Deaidre

Deaidre remembers the Loma Prieta earthquake. She was sitting under a tree with her grandmother and felt the ground moving. She ran into the house to try and protect herself and her grandmother hit her and told her to stay outside because it was safer. She lived in Menlo Park. She lost her electricity and phone but there wasn't any major damage to her house.

 

 

 

 

 

John

John was on his way to soccer practice in San Francisco. He was about 11 years old. His mom was with him. The shaking was very strong. He was disoriented, so he had no sense of protection. His mom was freaking out and she thought something was wrong with the car. She was saying, "What's wrong with the car?" A telephone line snapped and it had live electricity in it. It was shaking around like a snake. With the live electricity all the moving cars stopped. John lived in the Sunset District in San Francisco. Everything was broken in his house - dishes, vases, windows, all sorts of glass stuff. He didn't have a phone or electricity. The gas line snapped. It was underneath the steps to the house and the steps broke and it broke the gas line. His dad turned off the gas. The city "yellow tagged" his house, which means they put yellow tape in front of the house and they had to get in and out of the house through the back for a month.

 

 

Jason

Jason remembers the earthquake. He was 11 years old. It was a warm autumn evening. He was in his mother's car and she was drag racing on the freeway. Jason thought the earthquake felt like a smoothie, except there was no ice-cream. His mother slowed down and that's how he protected himself. Once she pulled off the freeway they were in downtown Oakland, and all the windows were broken. When his mom saw the windows broken she smashed out and said “Be out.” Jason lived in the city of Oakland. His house was not damaged - only a couple of things were broken. Nothing valuable broke, except his heart.

In the earthquake he was not physically hurt. There was a fire but no one got hurt. Jason saw damage all over San-Francisco. Jason didn't lose his electricity or phone because he knew where it was. Jason remembers that they stopped the game, and he was out of school for a little while.

 

Linda

Linda was at her friend's house. The ground started to shake and they got in the doorway. There was an aftershock and they got in the doorway again. She went home and looked at downtown San Francisco. There was a big black cloud that meant a fire. Then a neighbor ran down the street yelling, "The top of the Bay Bridge has collapsed on the bottom!" She went to the corner store to buy some batteries for her flashlight, but there was an aftershock and they made everyone leave the store. She went home and her phone was electric and didn't work. She found an old phone and called her mom and said she was okay. The phone didn't work again for days. Her bedroom had been a living room and had a fireplace in it. Everything was covered with soot, which is dust from the fireplace. The house had a few broken windows. That night lots of the neighbors walked up Randall Hill. No one talked as they walked up the hill. The only lights were at San Francisco General Hospital. You could see all the stars. She didn't have electricity for 3 days. She walked to the donut shop every morning to get coffee, then across the street to Walgreens to watch the news.

 

Lenette

Lenette was at work when the earthquake happened. Her supervisor was with her. The earthquake felt like a moving ocean. She protected herself and her pregnant belly by getting under a desk. The sprinklers came on inside the building. She lived in San Bruno.

 

Mr. Moreno

Mr. Moreno was at home when the earthquake happened. His little sister was with him. He said it felt like the ground was rolling. He sat down for a moment because it was hard to stand up. He went outside to find his little sister because he was worried. He lived in Redwood City. His house wasn't really damaged, only plates and picture frames broke. He was not hurt. A fire did not start where he lived. The only damage he saw was cracks on the street and sidewalk. He lost his electricity and phone. The experience was very scary to him.