The Loma Prieta Earthquake & 1989 World Series: 20 Years Later

San Francisco - The 1989 World Series was to be all about the San Francisco Bay area and its battle between the region's two Major League Baseball teams. Sadly, a much larger news story would take place in the San Francisco Bay area that October; the Loma Prieta Earthquake was caught on video just before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series was to start at Candlestick Park.

For many of us, it is hard to believe that the tragic October 17 day was twenty years ago.

The 1989 World Series

The 1989 World Series has gone down in history as The Oakland Athletics' sweeping victory over the San Francisco Giants. Major League Baseball remembers the game as the Oakland Athletics' first World Series championship in 15 years, and they won handily. Shutting out the Giants 5-0 in Game 1, the A's posted a 5-1 win in Game 2 - with a three-run homerun by Oakland's Terry Steinbach, nonetheless. Because of the Loma Prieta Earthquake, Game 3 was played ten days after originally scheduled; the Giants finally scored some points, but not before losing again to the A's 13-7. Oakland closed the deal on October 28, winning 9-6 in Game 4.

But the A's 1989 World Series sweeping victory will always be remembered as a bittersweet championship win for Oakland, a city which - like San Francisco - lost residents, homes, and businesses to the Loma Prieta Earthquake.

The Loma Prieta Earthquake

The Loma Prieta Earthquake was devastating for the San Francisco Bay area. While not as strong as the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake measured a 6.9 on the Richter scale, according to the United States Geological Service. The Loma Prieta Earthquake was strong enough to bring down structures and the double-decker Cypress Viaduct of the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880). In fact, as chronicled on a website dedicated to the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, most of the 62 deaths from the earthquake occurred as a result of the collapse of the Nimitz Freeway, with 42 lives lost in the destruction of that double-decker portion of Interstate 880.

Unreinforced, aging buildings were a major reason there was so much structural damage across San Francisco and Oakland. Damage was widespread, with thousands of buildings moderately to severely damaged. While the Loma Prieta Earthquake's jarring motions led to most of the destruction that day, fires destroyed other buildings and complicated the massive emergency response effort. Landslides in the area of the Santa Cruz Mountains damaged homes and businesses in surrounding towns.

In all, the Loma Prieta Earthquake caused about $8 billion in damage and destruction. With many buildings destroyed and portions of major highway arteries - including the Nimitz Freeway, Bay Bridge, and Highway 17 - damaged and otherwise affected by the earthquake, daily lives and commerce in the San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay areas took months to recover.

Better Preparation, Better Buildings Today

While some scars from the Loma Prieta Earthquake remain, the San Francisco Bay area has long since recovered from the destruction of the 1989 disaster. Perhaps one of the most important lessons learned from the devastation and death from the Loma Prieta Earthquake is that the passage and enforcement of better, stricter building codes could protect lives during similar earthquakes.

Because of newer building codes and advancing technology, buildings being constructed today are far more likely to survive the types of forces that destroyed structures twenty years ago. People are taking further precautions by staging earthquake survival drills and reviewing emergency response procedures that will lead to better preparations for - and fewer lives lost during - future earthquakes.

Resources:

First-hand knowledge

Loma Prieta Earthquake 1989. October 11, 2009. http://www.vibrationdata.com/earthquakes/lomaprieta.htm

Major League Baseball. "1989 World Series." October 11, 2009.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1989

United States Geological Service. "October 17 Loma Prieta Earthquake." October 11, 2009. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1989/