A lull, `and there it goes again' // Shock jolts L.A. back to reality
Haya El Nasser; Jonathan T. Lovitt
03/21/1994
USA Today
FIRST
Page 03A
(Copyright 1994)
LOS ANGELES - Just when life seemed to go back to normal, the earth shook.
Again.
And again, southern California went through the debilitating ritual of cleaning up
broken glass, checking for new cracks in homes and freeways, and calming
rattled nerves after a 5.3 aftershock jolted the region.
"We're getting tired of it," says Los Angeles native Nanette Taylor, who's staying
in a hotel until her home, damaged in the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake, is
repaired.
"We'd be happy if it would stop. You get lulled into a sense of security, and all
of a sudden, SHAKE."
When Taylor called home, painters reported that just-repaired cracks had
reopened.
No major damage or injuries were reported, but new cracks appeared on
freeways and buildings. A rockslide also blocked a road in Malibu.
Although the region has been hit by thousands of aftershocks, Sunday's temblor
was the strongest since January.
At least a half dozen aftershocks rolled through Sunday. Only one - a magnitude
3.4 - caused noticeable shaking, said Heather Lovasz of California Tech.
University in Pasadena.
Nine weeks after the 6.7 Northridge quake killed 61 people, many had tried to
regain a sense of normalcy. Fragile items salvaged from the quake and tucked
away for safety were back out, dishes back in cabinets.
"The reaction is `Damn it,' " says Mike Shaw, 45, of Woodland Hills, who saw
belongings tumble out of cupboards Sunday. "How about a break?"
Others were prepared.
"I've been expecting it for weeks," says Josh Hait, 19, a graphics designer from
Reseda. "Our pets were acting strange for the last few days. Actually, the other
night I stayed up late rearranging all the dishes . . . so they wouldn't break. But
it's still unnerving."
Near the epicenter - just 1 mile from Panorama City - Fran Wildroudt, 50, was
shopping for perfume with her daughter Judy, who's eight months' pregnant.
"All the bottles started rattling and falling and people started running. I was
worried she would get trampled," says the Los Angeles teacher. "Glass was
breaking and everybody was starting to panic."
Shoppers - visions of collapsed apartment buildings, parking structures and
department stores fresh in their minds - rushed to their cars and caused a traffic
jam.
Drywaller Jim Anthony was fixing a friend's collapsed wall when the aftershock
hit. The reminder that a quake could once again damage everything didn't stop
his work.
"You could be waiting a long, long time," says Anthony, 47. "How long can we
wait? Eventually you just have to fix this stuff."
In Mark Netzen's Northridge home, the chimney that was displaced more than 4
inches by the January quake is still cordoned off with yellow tape. "I didn't see
anything new," says Netzen, 37, assessing the damage to the house. "We're
lucky. We did all the breaking a couple of months ago."
But inside, a few more things broke. "It's hard to get excited about it. It's just
dishes and stuff. After January, it changes your perspective. I'm just glad to be
alive."
At the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the aftershock briefly interrupted rehearsals
for tonight's Academy Awards.
The first presenter, actor Elijah Wood, was doing his introduction of the
nominees for best visual effects. The winning envelope is supposed to be
delivered by giant mechanical dinosaur a la Steven Spielberg's prehistoric epic
Jurassic Park.
So when the auditorium started to shake, many at first thought it was part of the
show.
At a pre-Oscar party, Terry George, nominee for best screenplay adaptation for
In the Name of the Father, was being interviewed by Dublin-based New Decade
TV.
"By the way, this is an earthquake," he said calmly.
Then the shaking grew more violent. "Oh jeez," he muttered, jumping up and
swigging from a bottle of beer. Contributing: Tom Green and Ann Oldenburg
L.A. shakes: Just one more aftershock
The earthquake that shook the Los Angeles area Sunday measured 5.3 on the
Richter scale. It was just one of more than 6,000 aftershocks of the Jan. 17
Northridge quake, a 6.8-level temblor. Sunday's quake is considered an
aftershock because it occurred in the same underground stress zone as the
Northridge quake, although that fault has yet to be determined.
Main quake Jan. 17: 6.8 Aftershock Sunday: 5.3
The top aftershocks Few aftershocks approach the magnitude of the main quake.
Fifty measured 4.0 - 4.9, and just seven measured 5 or more.
Jan. 17, 4:31 a.m. 5.9 Jan. 17, 3:33 p.m. 5.6 Jan. 17, 4:43 p.m. 5.2 Jan. 19, 1:09
p.m. 5.1 Jan. 19, 1:11 p.m. 5.1 Jan. 29, 3:20 a.m. 5.1 March 20, 4:20 p.m. 5.3
The Richter scale Each number represents a quake 10 times as strong as the next
lower magnitude.
1-3 Not felt. 3-3.9 Felt indoors, like a passing train. 4-4.9 Felt everywhere.
Objects swing, dishes rattle. 5-5.9 Dishes, windows break 6-6.9 Hard to keep
balance. Houses could collapse. 7 plus Substantial damage or destruction.
GRAPHIC,b/w, USA TODAY ,Source:Thomas Heaton,U.S. Geological
Survey(Map,Los Angeles,Map,CA fault lines); PHOTO,b/w,Thom Elder,AP