Memories from 89 Adds Sympathy to Haiti '10

Growing up in California, you learn about earthquakes early and often. I remember the dreaded duck and cover drills. I also had felt my share of shakes, its California, "Can't beat our weather, but we got our faults." There is always the background talk about how one day "The Big One" will hit. Since I am from the Bay Area, the big one we always used as a base was 1906 San Francisco. That was when the San Andres fault shook SF so hard it caught on fire, pretty much destroying the City by the Bay.

I had my chance to get a brush with a "Big One" at 5:04 PM 17 October 1989. At that moment, a piece of along the famed San Andreas Fault near Santa Cruz ripped and caused a 6.9 magnitude quake that shook that foundations of the the Bay Area and would affect life there for years to come. I will never forget that day as long as I live. I had thought I was an earthquake veteran I had felt the ground shake many times before, but I was not prepared for that. Luck of all luck, I was at the parking lot of the local library talking to a friend whom I had been working on homework with. Then I noticed the cars around me shaking. I had a moment where I thought "That's odd, its not windy." Then I could feel the ground start rolling, and I knew what it was. I reached for a nearby light pole to get my balance (Smart move there, Patrick) but it was shaking like crazy. I did not fall down. The rolling subsided. My friend and I said our good bye's and I hopped on my bike to get home to watch game three of the Battle of the Bay World Series. I clearly remember thinking in my mind the not so clever catchphrase of the day, "Welcome to California, now go home."

My first inkling that this may have actually had an effect was the power being out on my way home. The traffic signals were out, and I had wanted to stop at 7-11 for a slurpee had closed due to lack of power. I got home and not only was there no power, there were no phones. We didn't have a portable radio, and so weren't able to get news. (Remember this is before cell phones, twitter, and the wireless life) Finally, one of out neighbors had heard a rumor that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. She brought out a portable radio, but at first it was still hard to find stations that were actually broadcasting. When we were able to finally get something on my neighbor's portable TV, we saw the now iconic images of the pancaked Cypress Structure in Oakland and collapsed section of the Bay Bridge hours after the rest of the world had seen them.

In the coming days, the stories of heroism of the common man became a clarion call of the rebirth of the Bay Area. The stories of the men coming out of the poor neighborhoods that had been isolated by the building of the Cypress Structure climbing onto the damaged structure to try to save the people trapped between the two decks of the collapsed freeway. My mom's employer, a moving company, donating a truck and driver to transport water bottled by the local Miller Bottling company into the harder hit areas. (We had a Miller bottle of water around the house for years.) The entire Bay Area came together to help each other through the crisis.

As I have been reading about the quake in Haiti, it takes me back to that warm fall day two decades ago when I felt the earth move under my feet. Because I was in the most prosperous nation in the world, and subject to California building codes the damage was minimal, compared to what it could have been. The Bay Area was blessed that it happened during the World Series that was being played in by both of the Bay Area teams, so many people were off work early, and the commute was light. Having the World Series in the Bay Area that day, also meant that it was going to get extensive media coverage, because the media apparatus was already in place to cover the games.

Those of us in California, should be thankful for all the help we have received for our earthquakes over the years. 1989 Loma Prieta, 1994 Northridge, and be grateful there was minimal damage from the recent offshore quake near Humbolt County. By helping in Haiti, we are paying forward the immense generosity shown our way over the years.