From jga Mon May 11 18:01:59 1998 Return-Path: Received: from merida.seismo.unr.edu by quake.seismo.unr.edu (8.6.13/1.34) id SAA20224; Mon, 11 May 1998 18:01:59 -0700 Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 17:02:30 -0900 (PDT) From: John Anderson To: John Louie Subject: Re: personal earthquake experience for evaluation X-Sender: jga@quake.seismo.unr.edu In-Reply-To: <199805111610.JAA08705@slab10.unr.edu> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Lines: 113 Status: RO Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Length: 5837 John, This a credible description, so I think we shouold include it, and send the author a thank-you letter. Here is a quick annotation to go with it: Landers and Big Bear earthquakes: Landers: Epicenter Location: 34.212 N, 116.429 W Moment Magnitude: 7.4 Date: June 28, 1992 Time: 4:57 AM PDT (11:57 GMT) Big Bear: Epicenter Location: 34.207 N, 116.836 W Moment Magnitude: 6.6 Date: June 28, 1992 Time: 8:05 AM PDT (15:05 GMT) Seismologists comment: Gardena is about 110 miles (175 km) west of the epicenter of the Landers earthquake, the first event described in this report. It is somewhat closer to the epicenter of the second earthquake, about 87 miles (140 km). ####################################################################### John G. Anderson Phone: (702) 784-4265 Seismological Laboratory / 174 FAX: (702) 784-1833 or 784-1766 University of Nevada jga@seismo.unr.edu Reno, Nevada 89557 ####################################################################### On Mon, 11 May 1998, John Louie wrote: > > ----- Begin Included Message ----- > > >From TITO78@webtv.net Sat May 9 01:52:41 1998 > Return-Path: > Received: from mailsorter-105.bryant.webtv.net by quake.seismo.unr.edu (8.6.13/1.34) id BAA26779; Sat, 9 May 1998 01:52:41 -0700 > Received: from mailtod-102.iap.bryant.webtv.net (mailtod-102.iap.bryant.webtv.net [207.79.35.82]) by mailsorter-105.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.gso.08Dec97) with ESMTP id BAA16097; Sat, 9 May 1998 01:52:39 -0700 (PDT) > Received: (from production@localhost) by mailtod-102.iap.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/mt.gso.26Feb98) id BAA09985; Sat, 9 May 1998 01:52:39 -0700 (PDT) > Message-Id: <199805090852.BAA09985@mailtod-102.iap.bryant.webtv.net> > From: TITO78@webtv.net (TITO RODRIGUEZ) > Date: Sat, 9 May 1998 01:52:39 -0700 > To: webmaster@quake.seismo.unr.edu > Subject: My experience > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > MIME-Version: 1.0 (WebTV) > X-Lines: 54 > Status: RO > > This is my experience with the Big Bear, Lander's Quakes........ > I was born in Los Angeles in 1978 and lived in Gardena just south > of Downtown LA. My dad had gone to Mexico for his work, so it was only > my mom and two brothers at home. It was Saturday night the 27th of June > 1992 that we went to sleep early because Sunday was my brother's > birthday and we had planned to go to church early. > Sometime around 5:00am Sunday morning I woke up for no apparent > reason. I went back to sleep almost immediately. Suddenly I heard a loud > rumbling sound and a few seconds later the shock wave hit. Everything > was shaking violently. I was half asleep so I didn't know what to do. I > ran to my mom's room and I yelled "Mom it's shaking!" , she said "I > know!" so then I ran back through the hall, down the stairs to the > living room. One of my dad's trophies had fallen off the shelf and I > stepped on it cutting my left foot. We all gathered in the living room > trying to hold on to something. Saving my fish tank from falling was my > first priority. I tried to keep the tank from falling but the shaking > was too strong and all my fishes fell. My mom always told me that she > always wanted to look outside to see how the ground moved during an > earthquake but she totally forgot to. The shaking lasted quite a bit. I > saw what seemed to be lightning flashes. I was confused, scared and very > nervous so I just thought "Ok it's the end of the world". Actually the > lightning flashes were Power Transformers shorting out. This earthquake > lasted too long and I remember telling my mom "It wont stop shaking! It > wont stop shaking!" . I was crying and well, I've never felt an > earthquake that strong before. > Finally the shaking stopped. I wasn't sure if it had because the > lamps were still moving back and forth. All the neighbors decided to > come to our house and everyone started praying the rosary. While my mom > was inside praying, my brother and I went to a friend's house across the > street. His swimming pool was half empty.There was no power for a couple > hours so everyone was burning candles. The sun started to rise and then > we started to go around the buildings to check for damage. What a > birthday gift for my brother. He had just turned 5 years old. Finally > the power came back on around 7:00am. > The quake rattled our nerves, but that still didn't stop my > mom from wanting to go to church. I was getting dressed to go to church. > It was about 8:00am and I had the TV on channel 9 KCAL. The News People > were talking when all of a sudden one reporer looks at another and says > "Oh get a shot of the lights..it's another quake". Right after that > there was another big quake. This time it felt stronger. I ran outside > thankfully wearing clothes. All the neighbor ladies were screaming in > spanish "Oh God forgive us!", I can't forget that. I was looking south > towards San Pedro and I was just waiting for the Vincent Thomas bridge > to collapse. It didn't. > After a few seconds it stopped. My mom just had enough of those > earthquakes so she packed our stuff and next day we were on our way to > Oregon with our uncles to start a new life. I remember crying when I > last saw the skyscrapers of downtown LA. I was only 14 years old. My dad > came back to LA a week later to find the house empty but he knew where > we were. He met up with us in The Dalles Oregon where we have lived ever > since that day. Now I'm 19 years old and I can't wait to go back to LA. > Thank you for allowing me to write my experience. I feel better > now because I will never be happy until I go back to LA. > Tito Rodriguez > > > ----- End Included Message ----- >