Here are some photos I took of the damage done in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The quake was on Jan. 17 at 4:31 AM. Magnitude 6.7. I was right in the middle of this quake; luckily the house had no major damage. The power was out all day but was restored at about 10:00 PM. These three pics were of an apartment building just down the street from the Northridge Meadows Apt's which was seen a lot on TV.

Here are a few more. These three pics are the Northridge Meadows apartments. The top two floors collapsed onto the first floor. 16 people died in this structure; some were able to crawl out to safety. More quake photos tomorrow.

Two more pics of the Northridge Meadows apartments.

Top photo: Northridge Meadows ap't on the left; the "North Ridge" ap't on the right. Before the quake, both building were the same height.
Bottom photo: The North Ridge ap't. This one did not collapse but as you can see leaned toward the right. Another 15 or 20 seconds of shaking and it might have come down. Luckily, it held up and all of the occupants were able to escape.

Hmm... I take it you found a box of old photos. :lol:

Yeah, I remember that day very well. We were without power on my block all day as well, finally getting it back right before nightfall. The electric company didn't even know we had no power!

I'm in Santa Monica. Though our damage was nowhere near as great as in Northridge, we did sustain a lot of damage. On the list of communities from most damage to least, SM came in third after the San Fernando Valley area (which of course, covers more than just Northridge), then Santa Clarita (if I remember correctly), then SM. Considering the fact that we are quite some distance away from the epicenter, the amount of damage was quite huge. Culver City was hit hard as well.

Originally posted by Mysty Eyes
Hmm... I take it you found a box of old photos. :lol:

I'm in Santa Monica. Though our damage was nowhere near as great as in Northridge, we did sustain a lot of damage. On the list of communities from most damage to least, SM came in third after the San Fernando Valley area (which of course, covers more than just Northridge), then Santa Clarita (if I remember correctly), then SM. Considering the fact that we are quite some distance away from the epicenter, the amount of damage was quite huge. Culver City was hit hard as well.

Yeah, the photos are in a shoebox.

I remember the freeway collapse in Santa Monica. Fillmore also had a lot of damage. The soil in SM and Culver City is soft and sandy which is why there was so much damage even though the quake was miles away.

I have a few more e.q. pics to post- watch for them.

Yikes... I remember in 2001 Here in Seattle the 6.8 earthquake we had... Didn't do as much damage as Northridge... But still scary :eek:

Originally posted by AAOT
Yikes... I remember in 2001 Here in Seattle the 6.8 earthquake we had... Didn't do as much damage as Northridge... But still scary :eek:

I remember that one, too. IIRC, the epicenter was not located in the middle of a big city. Still a lot of shaking, though.

You're right. They are scary. To those of you who have never felt an earthquake, you're not missing anything. Be glad they don't happen in your area.

Ah, yes, Fillmore. I had never heard of that community until that day.

The freeway collapse was in the Palms area, over Washington Blvd. I believe. Traffic was detoured and horrendous for months.

Yep, lot's of liquifaction by the beach. Part of our problem here also was that fact that we had (notice the past tense) some of the oldest buildings in the area. Other communities had lost their oldies-but-goodies to previous quakes.

Originally posted by AAOT
Yikes... I remember in 2001 Here in Seattle the 6.8 earthquake we had... Didn't do as much damage as Northridge... But still scary :eek:
I remember that too. It could have been really bad had the epicenter been at a difference location.

Here are two more pics:

The top is the Bullock's department store at the Northridge Fashion Center Mall.

The bottom is the Kaiser-Permanente office building in Granada Hills, on Balboa Blvd. near Devonshire St.

A severely damaged/partially collapsed apartment building in Van Nuys. I did not know about this one until someone told me about it and I drove over to look at it.

Wow! I don't believe I've seen pictures of that building before. There was one apartment complex here in Santa Monica that was teetering. It looked like a box about to go flat, y'know like you collapse a box for storage.

Originally posted by Mysty Eyes
Wow! I don't believe I've seen pictures of that building before. There was one apartment complex here in Santa Monica that was teetering. It looked like a box about to go flat, y'know like you collapse a box for storage.

Yeah, there were quite a few buildings that didn't collapse, but were "red tagged" (condemed).

Here are more quake pics. Since I was "there," I might as well post these for those who have not seen them.

The top photo was one of the entrances of the Northridge Meadows building. On the left is one of the units in which the the top two stories collapsed onto the first.

The center photo is a view from the side.

Seen on the bottom photo is one of many cars that were crushed. This car is an early '80s Cadillac.

These three pics show:


Top pic:
Yet another apartment building- this one in Granada Hills, about 3 miles away from the Meadows' building. It must have been scary to be in that building- to feel the floor drop about 6 feet.

Two lower pics:

The North Ridge apartments, next to (north) of the Meadows. The whole lower part of the building leaned toward the north. The residents in this building were very lucky it stayed up. In the bottom pic, you can see the interior wall leaning to the right (you might have to increase the brightness on your monitor to see it).

Yikes! Those pictures are frightening. It makes me feel guilty for complaining about our New England winters.

Originally posted by Janice
Yikes! Those pictures are frightening. It makes me feel guilty for complaining about our New England winters.

You have a point. You might get snow and cold weather, but at least the ground does not move around!

Janice, I just noticed your location. Did you realize that there was a large quake in Boston in the year 1755? It had an estimated magnitude of about 7. Be assured, though, that big (over 6.0) earthquakes in the Northeast U.S. are extremely rare. A quake like the one in Boston happens probably about once every 500 years, maybe even less often (let's hope).

Wow seeing the damage is quite scary!!

Its sad people died :(

OMG, I can recall it all, my apt bldg did good and held up, damage inside but it was all repaired.

Caroile are you mad at me?

You dont reply to my PMs or my emails and its making me very sad...... Your making it look like you dont hate me by being nice to me here on the bases but in private,you are ignoring me... PLEASE STOP THIS!!

I didnt do a thing to you Carole!!


You used to be my friend.... Why are you doing this to me??

I have enough things bothering me now :(