“Remember the fault line runs right through here...”
Had a friend in Bolinas that lived right on it. I lived in an apartment in SF that shook like crazy during one quake. Elevators out of order, I ran up eight flights. Plaster all over the stairs and in the hall. Woman who had the identical apartment next to mine was screaming she couldn’t get out. I put my back to the door and pushed. Her apartment was a wreck, plaster on the ceiling down, china cabinets...then we went to my door. Opened and gasped. NOTHING. One vase had fallen off the coffee table but didn’t break. I guess my hero cat held the place together.
In SF,, there were so many quakes we could tell whether they were 3.5 or 4.2...I guess we’re overdue for a big one. What do you think? 7.5?
Yeah if I recall there was a big one in SF in or around 1990 that took out bridges and highways and started fires. Then I think it was 1994 or thereabouts a big one in Northridge (San Fernando Valley) that also took out highways and bridges. My house shook like mad and I had a roommate from NY who was screaming like crazy he had never experienced one before. But only thing that happened was my guitar which was propped against a wall slid over. Roommate wanted to go out for a drive to survey the neighborhood I told him it was a really bad idea. People go absolutely crazy, speed, run red lights etc after a quake. He came back 5 minutes later and said “you were right I should never have gotten in the car”.
But, it turned my 45 minute commute into a 4 hour commute, and then when they figured out how to make one-way roads to bypass the downed bridges it dropped to a 2 hour commute. But the good thing was they paid a bonus, I think it was $100,000 a day, to the builders for every day they could get the bridges done faster than their quoted lead time. Worked out well for everyone except the few who did die (one, a CHP officer was riding when the bridge collapsed under him) and one who was under another bridge when it came down.
If we’re lucky a couple of “small” quakes to relieve the pressure and avoid the big one. But they are unavoidable. The tectonic plates are moving whether we like it or not.