I was very young during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989..I believe that one was during the day..I can imagine the damage would have been much worse this time around had it instead of being at 3:20AM it would have been 3:20PM..living in earthquake country, always have to be prepared for the worst
Loma Prieta was late afternoon just after a world series game began.
Timing is everything, a random thing that can catch you off guard. My wife and I were using the overpass in Oakland the night before the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, both the upper and lower overpass coming and going visiting a daughter living in Oakland. We were horrified to see it collapsed on those cars and people the next day.