Northridge Earthquake - 25 years ago today

[grumpy88]

I lived in Simi and it hit pretty damn hard, my mom lived in Canoga Park off DeSoto between Rosco and Saticoy and it emptied the entire house on to the floor, knocked all of the block walls down (north/south and east/west) it also snapped a 4+ foot diameter walnut tree off at ground level in her front yard and I mean snapped off, the root system was still in the ground. I had a friend's dad with access to a calibrated but not under Cal Tech or USGS control Richter Scale approximately 8 miles from the epicenter and it registered over an 8 at that location.

For those of you that don't know the epicenter location.

View attachment 719804
View attachment 719805

Nice ! My house is probably 4 miles west of that exact location !

 

[grumpy88]

I lived in simi valley during the quake . I think I was in San Jose when the quake hit on a road trip . We had a charter so we loaded it with fuel ,water and blankets . When I got home our house was tossed like others described. My parents slept in the neighbors motor home for a week At least while I slept in the car with our dog . I finished high school at royal high school that year doing a split shift of classes with there normal class . Crazy year . We too try to keep the truck fueled and toy hauler ready for what ever comes are way .

 

[Meaney77]

Funny you say this, I remember when this all happened, I was 20 years old and we just returned from a long weekend trip at the Pismo Dunes. We live in Newbury Park so we were about 30 minutes from Northridge. We came home late and never unloaded our camper or anything else. So when this all happened we had plenty of fresh water, food, fridge, generator, bathroom, etc... and we felt like we were pretty well prepared.

Fast forward to now- (I think the Northridge earthquake influenced my habits) I am in the habit of making sure we are always ready. When we get home from trips in our motorhome I stop and fill it up with diesel on the way home. When we get home, I empty the holding tanks and always fill it up with water, and its always plugged in- its our survival kit on wheels if shit goes sideways. Even during the fires that happened in November, we were under voluntary evacuation and we were ready to pull out in a few minutes notice if we needed to.

My wife always makes comments about being prepared for disasters and having a survival kit- I look at her and point to the side of our house where we keep our rig parked.

 

[Willie B]

...Yep...quake hit and my girlfriend and I felt like we were being levitated from our bed.., neighbors set up a table and served breakfast and coffee a bit later...2 or 3 of their friends had their cars parked on their lawn...they all slept there for about a week...I put a black and white tv on one of the tables...ran an extension cord to my motorhome...fired the gen...neighbor made sure my mh stayed fueled...as soon as I had the TV set up and a tv on in the mh and the gen fired...I went back inside and went back to sleep...
...Can’t remember exactly how long that generator ran but I’m sure it was until power has been restored to the neighborhood...
...cracked plaster inside and outside of the house...cracked block walls...ins.paid off no problem...
...freaky to say the least...
...Almost forgot back in a day when I had a brain that worked... I had everything in the garage that could’ve fallen very securely fastened to the rafters or the ceiling Joist... consequently not one bit of damage to my 60 Cadillac convertible...
...If a big quake were to hit now ...I don’t think my Buick Centurion convertible which is in the garage now would fare as well???...

 

[BigHeart]

Rivermobster forgot to mention that I was living with my grandma and attending Cal State Northridge at the time. I was 500 miles away visiting my mom at the time. I missed the whole thing and he said "don't come home... It's a mess here." He was my hero for checking in on my family, literally driving through the flaming flood on Balboa.

 

[NicPaus]

My great Uncle Larry was involved in the aftermath. A quick Google search showed this. Posted the Fire Boat thread when he passed.

 

[rivermobster]

My great Uncle Larry was involved in the aftermath. A quick Google search showed this. Posted the Fire Boat thread when he passed. View attachment 720050

Outstanding...

Shaken fire fighters. LITERALLY!!! LoL!