Where were you during the 1994 Northridge/Reseda earthquake?

[LALady]

Originally Posted by Fleet

I have insurance (including earthquake) from The Hartford.

MY HOA has an earth quake policy.

[CaliBoy]

I was only a few miles east of where the freeways collapsed at the 5 and 14 overpasses. My girlfriend and I were staying at her parents house so we could be a bit closer to Magic Mountain since we had free passes and we had the day off. Having lived through many an earthquake, I woke up immediately covering my girlfriend from falling objects since we were sleeping in a living room pull out bed surrounded by antiques grandfather clocks and items on the wall. I remember a sort of quick rumble/shake and a big jolt, then a declining rumble/shake. Nothing fell on us, but lots fell down.

Unfortunately, we could not call anyone inland in Los Angeles to check on our friends and homes. Angeles Crest was shut down and our only pass was through where the overpasses collapsed. Sort of eerie since it took us hours to get through the area with police guidance (and knowing that an officer was killed). It was seriously a mess.

When we passed through that area, we pulled off into a park filled with people camping out for a pit stop. The bathrooms were filthy due to the number of people using them. No lights. Just the smell and sounds of people passing in and out. Just terrible. And, in my opinion, the situation was manageable. I'd hate to think what would happen if L.A. experienced an event with devastation more widespread. Eh.

Unfortunately, the next week and months, the commute down the 10 freeway around Culver City was dreadful due to the collapse of the freeway there. But due to a contractor with a nice financial incentive, they were able to complete that freeway for passing in record time. But to this day, driving down west on the 10 around Washington/Venice, you can still feel a bit of a hump in the road due to the presumed concrete settling and compaction that occurred since the repair work was complete.

Like a previous poster mentioned, I find a bit of a thrill with earthquakes even though we've been damaged by them. However, they are still scary and unpredictable. However, I would rather deal with an earthquake than a fire, tornado or hurricane since they all are so devastating and can make that scary feeling last for quite a long time (now living in NC, we've already had a taste of some killer winds that scared me more than any earthquake has done).