February 9, 1971 living in Palmdale CA, we were awakening AT 6 AM in morning to an major earthquake and the floors in our home were rolling like ocean waves. Struggling to keep balance and reach our children, we gather our babies and toddlers and ran out to car and took off and sat in our car out in the middle of the desert away from structures. It struck at 6:00:41 a.m. and measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, 65 DEAD, MORE THAN 2,000 INJURED; $505 MILLION IN LOSSES. It is referred to as the 1971 San Fernando earhquake or the Big 9 or Sylmar Earthquake.
It caused more than 10 miles of discontinuous surface ruptures with average displacements of about 3 feet both horizontally and vertically. A strong aftershock sequence followed the main shock and included four quakes in the Magnitude 5 range.
The earthquake disrupted several motion pictures being filmed at the time in the Los Angeles area, including The Omega Man. The quake also served as the inspiration for the 1974 film, Earthquake.
This was not heavily populated area or lacking good building codes like our many neighboring friends in other countries and regions. Having been raised in CA I have grown up with earthquakes and have experienced them living along a fault line through a 30-year -span and until you experience one of this magnitude and higher it is not an experience I wish on anyone.
It is a helpless feeling that scares you to death. You see the roads split with crevices, freeway bridges collapse, homes, buildings and lives destroyed.
Let’s ALL pray for those unfortunate Haiti victims of this latest casualty of nature.
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