I Feel the Earth, Move, Under My Feet…

It’s been 19 years since the ’89 earthquake. The Giants were hosting the World Series at Candlestick Park. The weather was nice that day.

I was a Sophomore in high school. My mom’s friend had dropped off her 6 month old twin boys and I was at home babysitting. My parents were at work. My brother was at a water-polo game.

Growing up in the Bay Area, we had quite a few earthquakes. I remember my soup slushing out of its bowl on the table. The fixtures hanging from the ceiling would often sway in small earthquakes. Very seldom did we ever feel the need to take cover – it was usually a small quake. I think we had quite a few earthquakes that would have measured around 4 or 5 growing up.

Oct. 17, 1989 -- 5:04 p.m. The babies were a bit fussy. Their mom was only going to be gone a couple of hours. I placed them in their playpen in the living room. Earthquakes give you a couple of seconds warning. It’s a very low rumble that let’s you know it’s coming. You can hear it first before you feel it. I was standing right next to the playpen. The ground started to shake and as most people do, you take a second or two to just stop everything and recognize what it is. It quickly grew intense. The play pen was up against book shelves and seemed to be sliding around on the carpet. The books began falling into the playpen. I quickly grabbed the babies, one in each arm, and tried to lift them out. I couldn’t easily get my balance. I looked behind me and I can still remember a moment of panic when my parents large picture window right in back of me was buckling and waving like water. It was a loud rumble at this point. You can’t run or walk very well in a quake that size. I kneeled down, turned my back to the window, with the babies on my lap, and prayed that the window wouldn’t shatter. The boys were screaming, and the kitchen cabinets were emptying themselves onto the kitchen floor in the next room, with a shattering of glasses and pans. It all sounds very dramatic in retrospect. In those moments it was.

The quake started to subside and then stop. Even when quakes have passed, chandeliers are still swaying, you can hear dogs barking outside, and even a car alarm or two. I put the babies down, cleared out the playpen and put them back in. I remember looking out the window at the busy street and seeing neighbors begin gathering on the sidewalks.

My parents came home, friends came by, and the boy’s mom came to pick them up. The phone lines were too inundated to make a call. We somehow still had power, and TV. We were glued to it to see the devastation in San Francisco and surrounding areas.

Everyone has a story of that day if you were living in the Bay Area at the time of the 6.9 earthquake; stories of where you were when the quake hit, how you got home that day, or how your community recovered. The quake caused $10 billion in damage and took the lives of 66 people. I think most native Californian's get used to earthquakes. They fascinate me more than scare me. I know that as long as I live here there’s always a chance I may hear that very low rumble in the distance…with only a second or two to react.

Video of the Loma Prieta Earthquake (no sound, raw footage)
Earthquake Preparedness Guide