Where were you 34 years ago?

Culled | Feb.8 05 | Self

[al baby]

TIME   February 9, 1971 / 6:01 am PST LOCATION   34° 24.67' N, 118° 24.04' W MAGNITUDE   MW6.6 DEPTH:    8.4 km TYPE OF FAULTING  thrust - ANIMATION FAULT INVOLVED   San Fernando fault zone; minor offset reported on the eastern Santa Susana fault zone

Also known as the Sylmar Earthquake, this earthquake occurred on the San Fernando fault zone, a zone of thrust faulting which broke the surface in the Sylmar-San Fernando Area. The total surface rupture was roughly 19 km (12 miles) long. The maximum slip was up to 2 meters (6 feet).

The earthquake caused over $500 million in property damage and 65 deaths. Most of the deaths occurred when the Veteran's Administration Hospital collapsed. Several other hospitals, including the Olive View Community Hospital in Sylmar (pictured below) suffered severe damage. Newly constructured freeway overpasses also collapsed, in damage scenes similar to those which occurred 23 years later in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Loss of life could have been much greater had the earthquake struck at a busier time of day.

[al baby]

Well it has been 34 years ago tomorrow that So. Cal was rocked by a nasty little Quake where were you and what happend. I was on the pot and got sloshed by the water ran outside and water was pouring down the gutters a pool had overflowed power went out and we got to stay home from school

[dfwgator]

I was in Monterey, and I definately felt it up there.

[bahblahbah]

[BigSkyFreeper]

34 years ago, I was 5½ months old.

[TheBigB]

I was almost three months old and living in Alabama. Can't say I was bothered too much. :^)

[July 4th]

Good answer. Me too.

[CzarNicky]

I was 2.5 years away from being born.

[basil]

That sort of explains your whereabouts! Was there a gleam in your daddy's eyes?

[Choose Ye This Day]

Whippersnapper.

I was almost three YEARS old.

[quantim]

I copped a feel in a parking lot (my first) and knew I wasn't going to see action in 'Nam.

[SmithL]

Newberry College

[JesseJane]

Was trucking in my mini, knee socks, and platform shoes (to the bus stop that is)...

[ScottFromSpokane]

I was 3 1/2 years old and living in Spokane.

Strangely enough, I remember the earthquake.

Of course, I also remember taking a trip to Mars in the summer of '82.

[null and void]

I was in Pomona. I usually sleep right through earthquakes. This one has the distinction of being the only earthquake during which I woke up. (Of course, I normally got up at 6 AM for school...)

[null and void]

You were the best swimmer?

[herewego]

Only 3. My kids are now 18, 17, 14 and 5.
Thinking about where I was where they ARE really confounds me at times.
I pray they do better.

[clintonh8r]

I was living in San Diego, stationed at MCRD. I slept through the whole thing, but maybe the tremors didn't reach that far south. Can't remember.

[TheBigB]

I also remember taking a trip to Mars in the summer of '82.

Just say no. :o)

[Petruchio]

Let's see . . .

February 9, 1971 / 6:01 am PST

I was a freshman in High School back then. 2 hours time difference for central time makes it 4:01am CST. I was sound asleep. Most likely dreaming about Beth C. YOWZA!!!!

[Sigh] Those were the days . . .

[Blue Champagne]

I was sound asleep in Orange County, near Disneyland - woke up when it rocked my world. Aquariums sloshed, dogs howled, and things fell off shelves.

[Poser]

I was in the US Naval Training Center in San Diego. We hardly noticed the quake. It was only slight at that distance.

[herewego]

CONGRATS ON QUITTING!!
Been three years for me- and it does get better.
Good Luck and God Bless...

[IonImplantGuru]

I was moving in to Santa Cruz. That area was still recovering from the '89 Loma Prieta quake, because essentially the entire downtown required rebuilding.

As a 50+ year native Californian I had been through many quakes - usually the reponse was: Yahoo! Rock and roll! The Loma Prieta shaker was the first time I ever got down under a robust table to ride it out on hands and knees. I was at work (Sunnyvale) and ceiling tiles were falling, along with years of dust. Evacuated and got outside in time for the first major aftershock and can remember looking down the street and seeing the shockwaves rippling down the pavement at me, with trees and telephone poles swaying in unison.

[hadrian]

Can I get a prize for linking two threads tonight? [Doobie Brothers drummer dies; Sylmar earthquake anniversary]:

Northbound Auto Interstate 5/Golden State Freeway passing through the Sylmar interchange, Junction Interstate 5/California 14. This interchange suffered in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and again in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In the latter quake, a California Highway Patrol (CHP) motorcycle officer was on a transition flyover ramp, and the ramp collapsed before he had time to stop. Sadly, he perished when he fell off the ramp. Photo taken 11/28/02.

[presidio9]

what is your birthday?

presidio9 (since 10/22/70)

[Red Sea Swimmer]

I was in Lae, Papua New Guinea, probably playing with my Tonka Toys in the afternoon tropical rain.

[nicmarlo]

I was in bed, upstairs. My bed moved back and forth, the books all fell out of my closet....I remember being scared to death...my first childhood earthquake, having moved there from New York. It sounded like a train was coming down the tracks to smash straight into our house. It seemed like it went on forever and I was quite surprised how short the duration actually was.

[dljordan]

I was 21 and stationed at Alameda Naval Air Station in Oakland.

[GeronL]

I just turned 33. I wasn't even that far yet.

[auboy]

Tampa, Florida. Young, single, and chasing women. Or were they chasing me… I forget.

[Coyoteman]

Where were you 34 years ago?

Nowhere near there!

But was about a dozen miles from the epicenter of the 1989 quake. Whole lot o' shakin' goin' on then!

[missyme]

I lived in Culver City at the time and it shook like nobody's buisness 6a.m! My folks freaked out and I said Hey maybe no school today!

[nicmarlo]

there = Rowland Heights, CA (about 30 miles east of LA)

[nicmarlo]

6a.m.

Yep, I remembered the time too...what a way to wake up!

[F.J. Mitchell]

I was 38 years old and far from the epicenter, on the east plains of New Mexico.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

WOW i was 11 and honestly i couldn't tell you what i was doing other than just being a kid ......something most kids in these times don't get a chance to do !

[null and void]

I was in Pomona.

No I wasn't, I was in Orange. (The memory is the second thing to go)...

[spodefly]

I was 11 and on a farm on south Georgia ...

[nicmarlo]

I was in Rowland Heights....I didn't know you lived in California, nully!

[Seaplaner]

I was a newly minted veteran and a freshman in college (and life was truly great). Some felt the shaking in the Santa Clara Valley, I did not.

If I recall correctly, an aftershock hit during the filming of the Tonight Show, and Johnny Carson was cool and reassuring to the studio audience.

[al baby]

I was in westchester. was that before the fox hills mall was bulit?

[Delta 21]

[rintense]

In Detroit, learning to walk.

[speedy]

Can't remember if it was that exact day, but during that week I went to a Guess Who concert at Penn State. They performed their new song "Hang On To Your Life" along with other better-remembered numbers. Appropriate I guess in light of the quake.

[Pylon]

I was 3 1/2 years old and in Buffalo, it wasn't my fault.

[missyme]

Yep! No Fox Hills

I use to hang out in Playa Del Rey at the end of Culver Blvd..Fun Fun Fun Place at the time

[null and void]

Still do...

[everyvotecounts]

Hey I was in Rowland Heights also. Kitchen floor opened up about 1/2 inch.

[HangWithMe]

Came home to visit Mom and Dad in Costa Mesa, the night before, Mom said, 'I'm glad your here, now we can have the earthquake'.

[nicmarlo]

Do you know where you live now, though? : )