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Where were you 34 years ago?
Culled | Feb.8 05 | Self

Posted on 02/08/2005 8:21:37 PM PST by 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.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: 1971; 70s; anniversary; caearthquakes; earthquake; earthquakes
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To: speedy
Willie -- what was the name of that building that connected the towers in East Halls? Was it the Fisher Building?

Yeah, that was Fisher. And the towers were Pinchot, Tener, Brumbaugh and Sproul. A HS friend of mine lived in Sproul. He and his roommate used to get their kicks riding the elevators up and down. (outside the compartment, up on top.) I was too chicken to go along.

141 posted on 02/08/2005 10:08:32 PM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: MrsEmmaPeel

Well, Happy birthday to you.


142 posted on 02/08/2005 10:09:35 PM PST by stumpy (M)
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To: Willie Green

Hee hee. That's probably why you are alive today!! Thanks for listing the towers -- I had forgotten Pinchot. I think they were all PA governors. The Towers did leave something to be desired when it came to decor. Talk about minimalist!!


143 posted on 02/08/2005 10:12:48 PM PST by speedy
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To: al baby

I was in my first year in Highschool. Fell asleep in my parents den. The wall of books, greatfully did not fall on me. I was woke up by the rattling, shaking, and the wall in our backyard came tumbling down.


144 posted on 02/08/2005 10:17:02 PM PST by television is just wrong (Our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
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To: al baby

On the DMZ in Korea.


145 posted on 02/08/2005 10:17:29 PM PST by azsportsterman
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To: stumpy

Aw, sucks! thanks!


146 posted on 02/08/2005 10:18:03 PM PST by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: speedy
Oops Willie -- I slammed Nittany Halls before I saw your post. Nothing personal!!

Hey, I'm GLAD other students turned their noses up at Nittany.
One of the best kept secrets on campus were that those rooms were NICE and well maintained!
All single rooms with no roomate,
relatively quiet with no idiots upstair or downstairs making a racket,
Yet with only 25 guys in the building, you got to know everybody really well.
There was a nice central lounge/lobby area for parties, and there was ALWAYS a group sitting around BSing or playing cards or whatever. AND there were 25 girls in the dorm next door who would come over to visit, or we'd go over there.
Heck, if I had to do it all over again, I would've spent all 4 years there!!!

147 posted on 02/08/2005 10:22:13 PM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: bahblahbah

I was just a sparkle in my daddy's eye...


148 posted on 02/08/2005 10:25:18 PM PST by I'm ALL Right! (Welcome to my addiction.)
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To: al baby
Less than 7 miles from the epicenter, sleeping. Shook my bed and thought it was my mom trying to wake me up to go to school.

The quake made a mess of our house and garage. We were in the path of the Van Norman earthen dam, so we packed up our trailer and went camping for a few days SE of L.A.

My high school government teacher claimed that he was one of the people driving on the Simi Fwy and found the poor guy who was squished in his pickup under a collapsed overpass.
149 posted on 02/08/2005 10:28:48 PM PST by anymouse
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To: Willie Green

Oh man -- that settles it, I'm going back to get that second degree and I am putting in for Nittany. You mean you didn't envy those of us who had to step over passed-out drunks in the halls every Friday night? And you had GIRLS down there? You played the cards right, Willie. See you at Sparks for the drop-add.


150 posted on 02/08/2005 10:28:54 PM PST by speedy
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To: speedy
Oh, and the BEST thing about living in Nittany... I could park my CAR right in front of the dorm!!!

Bwahahahahahaha!!!!

151 posted on 02/08/2005 10:29:34 PM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Willie Green

Stop it man, you're killing me.


152 posted on 02/08/2005 10:30:33 PM PST by speedy
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To: al baby

I remember it well. That morning, I was practically thrown out of bed by the quake, the house was shaking so hard! I was only 10 at the time, and even though I'd lived in Santa Monica all my life, had never experienced an earthquake before this one. Quite a terrifying experience...


153 posted on 02/08/2005 10:36:13 PM PST by TFFKAMM
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To: speedy; Willie Green; potlatch

I didn't know you could be a senior and still be in Nittany Halls. There were some really nice guys there, though. I had to pass through to get to the skating rink. I took ice dance, correctly thinking I'd do better if I had someone to hold me up.

The so-called protests of the bombing of Cambodia were a joke. There was a small crowd of torn blue-jeans wearing long haired types, with torn red armbands, if I recall correctly, unless you want to count those of us who had to go to the HUB anyway, and looked at the freak show on the way past. The Penn Stater featured an anniversary article on the protest a few years back. They remembered it pretty much as I did. In other words, no big deal, as protests go.
An "activist" tried to recruit me at The Corner Restaurant to join the protest. I asked if he was from PSU. He gave me a short and earnest description of the "movement." He was an organizer, sent from elsewhere.

Protestors who were arrested were marched right past Hastings to the Rockview State Police barracks. I took a couple photos I still have, but scurried inside when a stern looking guy wearing shades and talking into his wrist started heading my way.

The college shut-down enabled me to graduate on time. I'd had a staph infection in my ears and couldn't go to swim class. I was actually going to have to return to take my last PE requirement, when they suspended attendance requirements. I skipped most of the course, then had to suck it up to take the final. It was synchronized swimming, underwater, OUCH.


154 posted on 02/08/2005 10:54:16 PM PST by ntnychik (Proud member of the Bush-eoisie)
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To: al baby

I was 15 years old and had just moved to Iowa with my parents, from all places, Arleta, CA. LOL Yep, we just missed the quake by a few days. The rest of my family in Chatsworth shook hard though.


155 posted on 02/08/2005 10:55:04 PM PST by KimmyJaye (Susan Estrich: A face for radio and a voice for pantomime.)
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To: speedy
You mean you didn't envy those of us who had to step over passed-out drunks in the halls every Friday night?

Whenever that happened, it was always somebody you knew, and not some stranger. So you'd just help him to his feet and guide him to his room where he could flop on the bed and sleep it off. As an extra bonus, our bathrooms had the same number of showers and toilets as my dorm in East Halls, but there were only 25 guys sharing them, not 40.

And you had GIRLS down there?

Well overall, the ratio wasn't very good, but our building was right next door, so we usually had first dibs.

156 posted on 02/08/2005 11:04:08 PM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: al baby

I was a non entity.


157 posted on 02/08/2005 11:04:30 PM PST by Clemenza (Are you going to bark all day, little doggie, or are you going to bite?)
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To: speedy; Willie Green

Um, Nittany Halls as we knew them (barracks) are gone. Somehow, spiffy new suite apartments don't deserve the name Nittany. There's tradition to protect, after all. Sparks is still there, but has had a makeover. It was originally designed to look like an IBM computer card. Remember students carrying their long card boxes all over campus?


158 posted on 02/08/2005 11:07:25 PM PST by ntnychik (Proud member of the Bush-eoisie)
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To: al baby

I was 9 yo and remember it very well, was living in Chatsworth CA at the time.


159 posted on 02/08/2005 11:07:51 PM PST by Steve Van Doorn
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To: hadrian
"and the ramp collapsed before he had time to stop. Sadly, he perished when he fell off the ramp. Photo taken 11/28/02."

Actually the cop was waved to stop by another motorist which got out of his car and waved at him to stop but he drove right past him.

160 posted on 02/08/2005 11:12:37 PM PST by Steve Van Doorn
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