Brandon times
The Northridge Earthquake
Be strong
Because things will get better
It may be raining now
But it doesn’t rain forever
I interviewed my aunt, Susan Gant. She was in the Northridge earthquake on January 17th 1994 at 4:30am on the Martin Luther King Jr weekend. The earthquake had a 6.7 magnitude.
On January 17th 4:30 am, my uncle and my cousin were in Riverside at a baseball tournament. My other cousin was at a sleepover with her friend, and my aunt was asleep in her room. My aunt’s house was 2 miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake. She was awakened by the shaking of what she described “ like a locomotive train going through her room”. The ten seconds of shaking and thrashing felt like minutes.
My aunt put on shoes so she wouldn’t step on the glass shards all over the floor.
When she walked outside, the walls around the house had collapsed and was blocking the driveway. My aunt could not call anyone because the power was out and at that time there were no mobile phones. She had to wait for my uncle to come home. My uncle, who was a fireman, had to fly his helicopter with my cousin from Riverside to Northridge to help the other firemen. My aunt borrowed a car from her neighbors to pick up my other cousin from the sleepover. After she got back home my uncle set up a camper for them to sleep in for the next few days. My aunt described the neighborhood as a war zone with all of the debris. The neighborhood recovered after a few weeks.
My aunt was semi-prepared for earthquakes. She had many flashlights around the house. She had shoes by her bed, lots of food and supplies in the garage, and she also had a wrench attached to the gas meter just in case of a gas leak. She highly recommends that you be prepared in case of an earthquake.
The Northridge Earthquake
By Brandon mori 6C