Having lived in California for 11 years, I know a thing or two about earthquakes, having experienced many, including the Sylmar earthquake on Feb. 9, 1971, at 6:01 a.m.
That was one of many earthquakes I recall during my teaching and coaching days in the Huntington Beach Union High School District from 1967-1978.
The Sylmar earthquake literally bounced me out of bed, but I managed to reach the doorway of my bedroom in the beach house that I was renting from a Hollywood producer.
Holding onto both sides of the doorway, I managed to stand as the entire beach house felt as if it were a ship being buffeted by waves.
Not only did the earthquake that morning leave 65 dead, but it collapsed one freeway overpass, pancaking the vehicles below.
More than half of the deaths occurred when the Olive View Medical Center and Veterans Hospital collapsed.
The earthquake injured 2,000, and the damage totaled $505 million.
The center of the Sylmar earthquake was near Magic Mountain in the San Gabriel Mountains north of L.A., and later that year, I spent my 30th birthday at Magic Mountain following a 10-mile run on the beach from the Seal Beach Jetty to the Long Beach Arena that has since been razed.
Numerous smaller earthquakes occurred while I was living in California, ones that caused the chandelier to sway and the swimming pool to slosh its water against its sides.
Having flown from L.A. to San Francisco during the daytime, I was able to get a bird’s-eye-view of the San Andres Fault that scientists warm may be the source of a cataclysmic disaster.
The San Andres Fault line runs more than 800 miles from the Salton Sea in the south to Mendocino Bay in the north. San Diego, L.A. and Big Sur are situated on the Pacific plate west of the San Andreas Fault.
The areas east of the San Andreas Fault are located on the North American plate.
An earthquake is caused by the breaking away of two of Earth’s rock-crust plates, causing friction as the two slide past one another to resettle.
The longer the fault line, the more severe the earthquake.
The five most severe earthquakes in Calif. since the Richter scale began measuring them are as follows:
*The Cape Mendocino earthquake measured 7.2 on April 25, 1992, killing two.
*The earthquake southwest of Lompoc that measured 7.1 did not cause any deaths on Nov. 4, 1927.
*The Ludlow earthquake on Oct. 16, 1999, was recorded as a 7.1 that caused no deaths.
*The July 5, 2019, Ridgeway earthquake, also a 7.1, claimed one life.
*The Northridge 6.7 earthquake on Jan 17, 1994, killed 72.
While less than 1,000 people have been killed by the California earthquakes during the past century, property damage has soared into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and scientists worry that the “big one” may be on its way as an average of 100 tremors per day in California are being recorded.
