25 years after a 6.9 earthquake shook San Francisco to its core, CNN’s Randi Kaye speaks with survivors about the disaster and its aftermath. #CNN #News
This was the most powerful earthquake I've ever felt. I was only 15 years old. I was just leaving my science class in junior high and preparing a birthday cake for my grandpa. Suddenly the earth grumbled and I knew I was going to die. I was lucky enough to get into an open area away from power lines and falling houses. This earthquake was no joke. It was so strong it damaged the bay bridge and ruined San Francisco. The fires in SF were so bad there were no emergency lines available.
Seriously what are the mathematical odds that the same person would be on the Bay Bridge at the exact spot where the bridge dropped off during an earthquake AND then be in the World Trade Center on 9/11 AND surviving both incidents? That’s astounding
Some people just have the strangest odds. Like Roy Sullivan, an American Park Ranger who was struck by lightning seven times. There were rumors that his gravestone was also struck by lightning about 2 years after his death.
I agree with you. This earthquake was so damaging it could've destroyed SF had it been an 8.0. This was the most powerful quake I've ever been through and I was living in San Jose! The earth literally GROWLED and shook so violently it scarred me for life. I remember buildings swaying, power lines coming down and houses crumbling. The news reported it as a 7.1. San Jose was probably the safest place to be though, NOT San Francisco. San Jose has a lot more flat land no giant skyscrapers. I was lucky to be living in San Jose at that time.
You have to fight all your common sense that scream at you to get out of there to stay there and crawl into this and save someone you don't know. It's an impressive feat.
They should have interviewed George Santos. He was there. He jumped out of a collapsed and burning school building holding three kids in his arms. He returned to the building and saved dozens more!
The thought of jumping from your crushed house with a completely shattered leg and having to leave your wife to die.... That's all just so effing horrifying and painful...
As a Critical care RN, I wish the nurses would have told Desiree that people can still hear you when they're out and on a vent. Many patients who were comatose complained that I talked their ears off.
I was working in San Francisco when the earthquake hit. All the roads out of the city were closed. The Marina burned. I lived near the epicenter and could not leave San Francisco. I will never forget that day.
Incredible stories! My uncle survived the big one in Mexico City in 1985 and decided he needed to move to safer ground. He moved to San Francisco in 1989.
My Great Grandfather carried my Grandmother out of their rocking home in 1906. Put her in My Great Grandmother's arms, who was born there in 1876. And then he ran back in the house to get his hat. They did hats like people do iphones today. He came back out with it. He was born in Russian River Township in 1876.
I was trapped in an elevator in downtown San Jose. I still have trouble going into high rises, elevators, and buildings where I don't see a clear "escape path,"
I was in downtown SJ too ...the traffic was all snarled at a standstill and I jumped on my bicycle and rode from the Fairmont hotel where I worked out to Blossom Hill Rd where my kid was living at his dads house ...it was a long long scary bike ride until I hugged him ....and yes ,it was a beautiful clear day
I've never liked skyscrapers for this reason and I've never lived through something this catastrophic. My dad (and other family members and friends) was a firefighter when I was growing up and it was drilled into my head to always know how and where to escape in case of an emergency. When I worked in lower Manhattan, our building would have fire drills with zero instructions so people would head to the lobby and just hang out. I always left the building. Even now, living and working in the LA area, I'm always super aware because here I have threats I didn't have back east
I was also in downtown San Jose... I was a student at SJSU. The second floor hallway of my building was swaying so much that I could see into the rooms. Immediately, the power was out, so my friend who worked at the campus pub suggested we run there because he knew that the pub had a generator. Within minutes, we were watching the unfolding news of the Marina, the Bay Bridge, and the Cypress structure that had collapsed in Oakland (and worried for our friend who was driving through there that day - he returned much later that night, thankfully). All of us who made it to the pub were freaked out, and unable to contact family in effected areas. Eventually, the doors to the pub were closed because of the crowds pouring in. Once the management realized they'd be closing for the unforeseen future, it was decided that the beer kegs be emptied and pitchers of beer given away for free. When we finally left, it was dark except for the car lights of the stopped traffic on 10th Street and the trashcan fires burning on the lawns where students were huddled together. No one slept alone that night. Although we were all young and scared from not being able to get in touch with family in hard hit places, we were ok. My own earthquake PTSD did not start until surviving Mexico City 2017... (!!!)
To the Daughter of Buck…..As a Dad with a daughter there was and never will be anything that you say to your Dad that would ever change his love for you!!! We were all kids once and Dads remember and are also the most understanding when your kid is just being a kid. You were mad because you wanted to spend time with him. That cancels out everything else. He never even gave it another thought.
Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Hollister were all badly damaged but were largely ignored in coverage it has nothing to do with wealth, the reporting was done where the biggest loss of life was, the media was covering the collapse of the Cyprus structure in Oakland
I was really upset at my dad and mean to him before he died suddenly. So. I feel for this girl who lost her dad. Took some therapy but I eventually forgave him and myself. But you never forget, and you carry it with you forever.
I know. It wasn't my father, but my girlfriend and mother of my kids, we got in an argument and she and her brother left, he was drunk and they struck another car head on. They both died. The last thing I've said to her was to f off. I live with it everyday. My kids were too young to remember.
I don't know if you have kids but as a mom with kids ranging in age from 9 to 27. Kids say plenty of mean things out of anger or hurt, and while it may sting for a moment the kids are already forgiven before they even finish saying whatever they said. I'm sure it was the same with your dad.
Yes. I was initially stuck in a long hallway of a three-story, wooden-framed building. It swayed so much back and forth that I could see into the rooms. I still recall how the building vibrated for minutes afterward, and all the tress were emptied of leaves, blanketing the road...
I was actually watching the World Series at my house in Ohio with my 13 day old baby girl when the earthquake happened. 64+ people lost their lives 😢, it could have been so much more.
I was 4 miles away from the epicenter in Santa Cruz CA …we just moved to CA…there was incredible shaking near the water…my husband was on highway 17…he thought all his tires blew out..after it was over we biked up to the epicenter in aptos ca…I’ll never forget it
I was 26 living in Hawaii and saw the San Francisco Airport on a trip to California after the earthquake and saw the damage. Mahalo for the documentary at age 60 very chilling
I live in Hawaii now on the side of a volcano that makes earthquakes all the time. I'm a Native of S.F. shakey ground don't borther me. My first one in S.F. was 57'.
I was in Sanfran when this earthquake struck and the building I was living was built in the very early 20th century and I can tell you it was shaken like a rattle and yet not even a crack?! And that quake was a terrifying and violent shaker that I never thought I would experience?? But I did and even now 35yrs on the memory is so strong?! I recall how market street was packed with people walking silently and with complete calm ?! There Was a sense of unity between everybody, it was bit like a scene of a disaster movie?! I have no photographs but very strong memories of that fateful day in the San Francisco 89 quake! What an experience it was I must say.
I had to stay late at work. There was a big rush of customers trying to get their oil change done, so they could go home and watch the game. We had just finished the last car. It started small. It kept going. I got to see the concrete driveway ripple. About half of the time I would drive home on the cypress structure. If not for the pre ball game rush, I could very well have been on the cypress. Baseball saved a lot of lives that day.
I will never forget that day. I was really sick from a ear infection. I was getting ready for the battle of the bay game. I was in the kitchen when it hit and I thought "man I'm sicker than I thought " when I saw people on TV running and the water in my 25 gallon fish tank sloshing out. I started screaming for my children to get away from the shelves and tv
My first one in the city was 57'. I remember it well. Lunch time, Canpbell's tomato soup and saltines. My mom yelled for us to get under the table, after she had just put my bowl of soup in fron of me. As she turned to turn off the gas on the stove, I took my bowl set it on the seat and pulled it under the table to eat during all the excitement. In 89' I was eating pumpkin pie after dinner.
I remember a movie was done of this tragedy back in 1990 and I was 9 yrs old and I remember the part of the story where the woman was trapped in the car and a surgeon was coming to take her foot. I was ushered to bed before the movie finished but I was traumatized, so much so that for 35 years, I’ve had nightmares about that single event…… until today when I learned her foot never got cut off. Thank God! lol I’ve even told my partner 15 yrs ago that this is my recurring nightmare and come to learn I didn’t need to have this nightmare at all!
7:00 this guy was just like my Dad, thought he had flat tires. My Dad was traveling from Silicon Valley on 880 and thought the same things and wondered why cars were all starting to pull over on the road. But he kept driving so he could get home faster. 😢 My sweet daddy
I was in Santa Cruz not far from the epicenter. 7.2 on the Richter scale. Our house that was less than a few miles from Loma Prieta in Boulder Creek jumped off its foundation 3 feet landed flat. Not one crack in the sheet rock! My mother in law lived there. We called the fire department and got them to get her out of there. My husband at the time was sent to repair telephone system. The old Ma bell system was still being used. And we soon had service up again. He couldn’t get home because every bridge from Santa Cruz to Monterey had fallen. Scary stuff. I ran throughout my neighborhood with a wrench shutting off everyone’s gas . I’m a retired nurse. I’m always good to be around in an emergency.
I lived in Boulder Creek once upon a time. Rented a house right on the Hwy North of town. Had a yard full of rose bushes. Also BC. Being a Native San Franciscan I've lived all over the Bay Area from Fremont to Santa Rosa, to SC and can't remember how many different spots in the city. Raised in San Mateo on the bay in Shorview. I was in Pleasanton on that day. Seems like another lifetime.
I was in moving to San Deigo and driving through SF and I had an overwhelming feeling and begged my husband not to drive over that bridge .. we went through Napa instead.. and not more than a month later, the earthquake hit and we felt in San Diego and the bridge we were to cross collapsed! seeing photos of it made my soul shiver.
I drove into San Francisco the night of the earthquake. I got behind a few fire apparatus from the California Department of Emergency Services. I followed them over the Richmond bridge and down through Marin county, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city. The city was surreal, everything was dark, the electric powered buses were all stalled along the street. I could see reflections of the flames from the fires in the Marina District. I knew exactly where I was going and drove to my niece's apartment. went up to her apartment and got her and a suitcase full of clothes, loaded everything back into my car and headed back to the bridge. I wasn't in San Francisco for more than 30 minutes.
Wow. I'm already crying. Such incredible but heartbreaking stories. 😢 How some of them survived is a miracle. Those first responders are amazing people I wasn't alive for this but I remember watching a movie about earthquakes at like 6-7 years old. My dad reassured me after getting scared that "there's no such thing as earthquakes in GA". THREE nights later, woke up in the top bunk shaking. I remember BARGING into my parents room as it was still going yelling "YOU SAID THEY DIDN'T EXIST IN GA" as plates, books and photos were falling 😂
I lived in Pacifica when the Earthquake hit. It shook the house and just seemed to go on and on! It was terrifying! When i saw the news and the damage i was horrified! I feel blessed my family and i made it through.
I was 8 years old living in northern Canada. And remember it was the only thing on the news. For days people were trapped in their homes or cars. Truly heart breaking 💔
I was living there then on Bush St. What a horrible day. I broke my ankle when our building partially collapsed. The entire day felt off before the earthquake. 😢 RIP to my favorite teacher.
My husband's nephew was at that game. His wife and children were at home in Aptos. He had to drive home in the dark, no traffic lights, no communication with his family. Fortunately they were all okay.
I was 8yrs old in 1989 and lived in Concord California (East Bay) and i remember that day very well. I too was watching the World Series with the A's and Giants. I'm 42yrs old now and am still scared to no end of Earthquake's. I'll NEVER forget that day for as long as I'm alive. 😢
Watching this 2024. Very important day for many reasons. My late husband was in CICU in Sacramento Ca dying of congestive heart failure due to a virus. Husband was only 21 yrs old at the time and was just clinging to life. He was put on an emergency heart transplant list. 1989 just so happened to be the first year of Sutter Transplant program in California. Still in its’ infancy at the time and considered a bit experimental then. Well, as it turns out, my husband received his new heart on October 21st 1989, just 4 days after the quake! The doner was a fallen California police officer who had died while working search and rescue in San Francisco following the earthquake! So many people lost their lives that day. But so many were saved as well. My husband being one of them. God bless everyone involved and affected by this horrible event. RIP you’re in my heart and prayers always!
I was in an economics class at the college of Alameda when this horrible quake struck. Absolute horror.. I'll never forget standing down by the water looking towards San Francisco at night and it was burning. With no lights. 😢
I was 3 hours away up in the Sierra Foothills in Nevada City, CA at my parents' house, getting ready to watch Game 3 of the Bay Area World Series with my dad. We were both having a beer & a smoke, the TV went out and we looked at each like, "what the hell happened"? My dad was a Chief Building Inspector for Nevada County and instantly knew what the quake meant. As an inspector, he wrote and revised building codes and helped with earthquake retrofit building codes during the 70's, 80's and 90's. The look of sheer terror in his eyes saud it all to me that day. Although we didn't feel shaking at my childhood home, people in the neighboring town of Grass Valley did. I've ridden out many quakes all over California (including the Landers Quake in '92, Northridge Quake in '94, the Truckee Quake in 2001 and most recently the Challis Quake in 2020 in Idaho), but this one sticks out to me because of the devastation that came with it. It is an integral part of my 20's.....
I remember that day well. I was at the World Series at Candlestick Park with my best friend. I was about 25 years old and living about 4 miles from the stadium. A lifetime ago.
I remember that day like it was yesterday, it was a bad earthquake that killed a lot of people. The one thing that really sticks in my mind was the cypress freeway and how devastating it was to see! I was shocked that there were survivors, but that's where most of the deaths happened which was so sad. I was at my friend's house when it happened and no one I knew got hurt or killed. It felt like a swaying one, but the one earthquake that I remembered was the one in 1999 it was the Joshua earthquake that was down south. That earthquake was a rocky one and you couldn't stand up in it and it did a little bit of damage and no one got killed. But the Loma Prieta earthquake was the most deadliest one that I will never forget.
James Betts MD, was my doctor/surgeon for my inguinal hernia in 1994 and 2005. I had no idea that he was involved on saving the child from the car by slicing through his mother and her carseat.
I was 11 when this hit, I remember it well, felt like the world was ending. My parents were on that road that collapsed that day, luckily it was earlier.
The reality is this was the Santa Cruz, Los Gatos and Morgan Hill earthquake. The center of the earthquake was at Loma Prieta Peak. I was in the Santa Cruz mountains when it hit.
I had been too busy moving to catch any of the playoffs. Finally, got the TV set-up to watch the first game. I was 279 miles away, SW inland California, when this struck. The water in the pool was waving and the overhead lights were swinging back and forth. Instead of a World Series, I watched these horrific scenes.
I remember this, it was so powerful I remember we (my mom and my sisters) was at home in Gary, Indiana and my sister was running and sat down next to us and the house shook. We didn't know it at the time, but as kids and my sister was on the heavy side, we said dang you shook the whole house. We found out the next day it was an after shock that was felt over 2,000 miles away. That was crazy. I never knew how bad it was until I got older and really learned about it.
I was just south of San Francisco, nearer the epicenter, watching the game in my apartment when the quake hit. I have never been so afraid in my life. However, our building remained standing and all my friends and family survived and were uninjured. My sister lived only a mile or so from the epicenter and her home was terribly damaged but she was fine. When the stories began trickling in about the tragedies others had suffered I felt almost guilty for getting off scott free!. A number of us spent the night on our pastor's living room floor. He helped to keep us sane. What a horrible day. 😢
I was living in the Bay Area when this happened. I remember we lost electricity and couldn't get in touch with other family members for a while. I also remember the young men who lived in the neighborhood that the Cypress Structure cut through were the first rescuers. They got ladders from their homes and pulled survivors from their burning cars.
The neighborhood I lived in, in San Francisco, in 1989 - was the last neighborhood to have the power restored. This is the first time I have ever seen any of this footage (no power, no tv). Powerful stuff, especially if you were there. Every wall in my 4-story, wood frame apartment building was cracked. Corner apartments sustained the most damage, and people lost furniture - like big china cabinets that toppled and broke and all their contents shattered. In the more central apartments, walls cracked, and I had windows that flew open and individual things fell. We felt lucky being more in the center. But the aftershocks were terrifying. In the weeks and months that followed, every building in the city was examined, to see if their foundations and structures were safe. Earthquake safety restructuring of buildings went on for years.
When our building was eventually inspected, it was deemed to be structurally safe. Only the plaster wallboard had cracked - not any of the actual structure or foundation.
@@roserose8283 Well, that's good. Was it still nerve wracking to stay even though the building was deemed safe? They deemed our 100+ year old building safe except a portion where a chimney on the roof was threatening to collapse. During the weeks that followed we could hear cracking noises every time there was an aftershock and I had horrible visions of us being buried alive in our basement apartment.
I remember watching this on the news and reading about it in the newspaper! I wasn’t a resident of CA back then and was residing out in the South. I was in the 8th grade and had to write a paper about the terrible events of the “Great Quake” of 89 in my “Earth Science” class back then. I had nightmares for days and wasn’t even residing in CA! 💔💔💔😢😢😢😢😢 I had absolutely NO IDEA I was going to end up moving out this way as an adult back when I just turned 30 years old!! (2005) My heart ❤️ STILL goes out to all of those who lost their lives along with others!!!
This is the event that made me decide to go into search and rescue. I was in NYC and felt hopeless I couldn’t help . Years later, I would end up working at 9-11. As horrible as this was , there is a silver lining that made many of us go into this field.
I was in the Tenderloin on a job interview. We were in a coffee shop in the culinary institute. I ran out the doors to be surrounded by hundreds of people in white chef’s outfits. Thousands of aftershocks afterward, I stayed home in my studio in Petrero Hill for the next five days, trying not to drink. My little glass vase on top of the bookshelf fell to the floor and landed right on top of a pile of dirt from my broken flower pot, which saved the vase from breaking.
I was working night shift when this happened. I turned on the tv and saw this. I thought it was a movie. It was so crazy. It was a sad day all the people injured and or killed
I remember when this happened. I was 7years old. I remember watching the tv praying for those in grave peril and their families. Mine included since my family was from palo alto, san jose, etc.
I was there just 5 mo earlier. Had a friend that lived there I was so worried about. She left work early that day and made it across the bridge just shortly before the collapse.
I'll never forget that feeling of being on a spinning flat plate. The sound of the ground, I'll never forget it. I was 8. I had PTSD so bad, i couldn't handle the news on the TV because of extreme nausea. Over the years I couldn't handle my parents driving over the dumbarten bridge for years, and no question, my parents had to avoid the bay bridge due to the damage.
I was at Japantown Bowl when the quake hit. I had just threw a ball down the lane and the overhead monitors swayed and then the lights went out. A bunch of us jumped into our friend Calvin's pickup and made our way to the southern part of the city. I remember going down Van Ness Ave with all the other vehicles with no traffic lights working. I also got the pleasure to work with Jerry Shannon at St. 9 and he was very modest when he told me about the marina fire and rescue. Great man who was doing his job and duty.
I was on the Marin county side of the Golden gate bridge. Our office was on the landfill used to expand the area. It wasn't unusual to hear the San Quentin guards at shooting range practice. It looked like the world was ending it felt like the world was ending. It took hours to get a transit bus home and my kids were home alone. I'll remember that day forever.
I was just a kid in Southern California when our backyard porch and windows suddenly cracked and jolted. Mom turned on the TV and they were starting to report on the earthquake.
The only time I didn‘t sleep through aftershocks was the earthquake that hit Redding in the summer of 1998. I vaguely recall this earthquake, but I was 7 or 8 at the time.
Damn this is tough to watch. I feel so bad for Bill Ray and also for Desiree Helm as she never got to apologise to her father. This is why we should never use the "hate" word as it's such a strong word that only leads to anger and sadness and as in Desiree's case you might regret that later
I was on the bay bridge that day, didn't hear about the earthquake until 10 hours later when I got home. Still not sure by how much time we missed it by.
We lived in San Bruno, I was 2 weeks old, and the earthquake struck as my mother was in the shower, and she always tells this story bc my sister was in LA with my dad at Disneyland. She ran out of the shower stark naked, grabbed me and my brother, and ran out to the front yard in only a towel. It was one of those fight/flight moments.
I felt the sadness in my soul watching him tell the story of not being able to save his wife 😢
Also the little girl who wasn’t able to apologize to her dad. 😢 It really makes you think and gives you perspective.
6:20 at this part?
I am Just heartbroken hearing his story .
Watching in 2024. 35 years after the disaster
This was the most powerful earthquake I've ever felt. I was only 15 years old. I was just leaving my science class in junior high and preparing a birthday cake for my grandpa. Suddenly the earth grumbled and I knew I was going to die. I was lucky enough to get into an open area away from power lines and falling houses. This earthquake was no joke. It was so strong it damaged the bay bridge and ruined San Francisco. The fires in SF were so bad there were no emergency lines available.
Dam I can't imagine it
😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
@@isaimedel8152😢😢😢😢
Same! I remember it was a Tuesday, and I was watching “Rescue, 911” ❤
Seriously what are the mathematical odds that the same person would be on the Bay Bridge at the exact spot where the bridge dropped off during an earthquake AND then be in the World Trade Center on 9/11 AND surviving both incidents? That’s astounding
Definitely!!
Conspiracy
That’s insane!!!
@@GraveyardTV ur moms a conspiracy
Some people just have the strangest odds.
Like Roy Sullivan, an American Park Ranger who was struck by lightning seven times.
There were rumors that his gravestone was also struck by lightning about 2 years after his death.
That firefighter that saved that older lady is a Real Hero. We need more people like him in this world.
yeah he save a monster, ugh nightmare
@@angelwings7802you have issues you should deal with to have a happier heart💕
I agree with you. This earthquake was so damaging it could've destroyed SF had it been an 8.0. This was the most powerful quake I've ever been through and I was living in San Jose! The earth literally GROWLED and shook so violently it scarred me for life. I remember buildings swaying, power lines coming down and houses crumbling. The news reported it as a 7.1. San Jose was probably the safest place to be though, NOT San Francisco. San Jose has a lot more flat land no giant skyscrapers. I was lucky to be living in San Jose at that time.
You have to fight all your common sense that scream at you to get out of there to stay there and crawl into this and save someone you don't know. It's an impressive feat.
@@JNosewicz7569 you dont know who that lady is, she could be a serial killer
They should have interviewed George Santos. He was there. He jumped out of a collapsed and burning school building holding three kids in his arms. He returned to the building and saved dozens more!
#cornpop
Yeah I saw him there. I asked if I could help him but he turned to me and said " I am superman and I can do this"
Lol
Was that before or after he got his 2nd law degree?
pffft, yeah and I bet he was naked except for a pride flag wrapped around his pride! XD
I could have gone the rest of my life, not reading or thinking about that creep.
The thought of jumping from your crushed house with a completely shattered leg and having to leave your wife to die.... That's all just so effing horrifying and painful...
As a Critical care RN, I wish the nurses would have told Desiree that people can still hear you when they're out and on a vent. Many patients who were comatose complained that I talked their ears off.
Edit to above - when the patients came out of their comatose state ....
WHEEEEEZEEE 😂
Did they know this back in 1989? I know it was 35 years ago but I don't know what was and wasn't known about comas
@@jennifertarin4707I am a nurse and always assumed that. People are also still aware after they are dying and can still feel love as you let them go.
Bull
I felt the sadness from Bill when he talked about his wife and the way he lost her. Jerry, god bless him for saving that older lady
I was working in San Francisco when the earthquake hit. All the roads out of the city were closed. The Marina burned. I lived near the epicenter and could not leave San Francisco. I will never forget that day.
Imagine living thru the earthquake AND 9-11.....unbelievable.
Oh the humanity. You forgot the dempanic and the insurrection that nearly ended democracy
Incredible stories! My uncle survived the big one in Mexico City in 1985 and decided he needed to move to safer ground. He moved to San Francisco in 1989.
The least safest city in California.
Mexican search and rescue teams with specially trained dogs were in San Francisco the next day. They were a big help.
My Great Grandfather carried my Grandmother out of their rocking home in 1906. Put her in My Great Grandmother's arms, who was born there in 1876. And then he ran back in the house to get his hat. They did hats like people do iphones today. He came back out with it.
He was born in Russian River Township in 1876.
😶😶😬
All he did was move north on the same faultline
My dad and other family members were living in SF at the time of this earthquake and I’m so grateful they survived it
This was so very hard to watch, having lived through it, but I appreciate your making and posting this documentary.
I was trapped in an elevator in downtown San Jose. I still have trouble going into high rises, elevators, and buildings where I don't see a clear "escape path,"
I was in downtown SJ too ...the traffic was all snarled at a standstill and I jumped on my bicycle and rode from the Fairmont hotel where I worked out to Blossom Hill Rd where my kid was living at his dads house ...it was a long long scary bike ride until I hugged him ....and yes ,it was a beautiful clear day
I've never liked skyscrapers for this reason and I've never lived through something this catastrophic. My dad (and other family members and friends) was a firefighter when I was growing up and it was drilled into my head to always know how and where to escape in case of an emergency. When I worked in lower Manhattan, our building would have fire drills with zero instructions so people would head to the lobby and just hang out. I always left the building. Even now, living and working in the LA area, I'm always super aware because here I have threats I didn't have back east
I agree with you,I was in the Northridge earthquake,I still have problems going underpasses
My niece wouldn’t drive over the bay bridge for years after the earthquake, and I had a major problem stopping under an overpass
I was also in downtown San Jose... I was a student at SJSU. The second floor hallway of my building was swaying so much that I could see into the rooms. Immediately, the power was out, so my friend who worked at the campus pub suggested we run there because he knew that the pub had a generator.
Within minutes, we were watching the unfolding news of the Marina, the Bay Bridge, and the Cypress structure that had collapsed in Oakland (and worried for our friend who was driving through there that day - he returned much later that night, thankfully). All of us who made it to the pub were freaked out, and unable to contact family in effected areas.
Eventually, the doors to the pub were closed because of the crowds pouring in. Once the management realized they'd be closing for the unforeseen future, it was decided that the beer kegs be emptied and pitchers of beer given away for free. When we finally left, it was dark except for the car lights of the stopped traffic on 10th Street and the trashcan fires burning on the lawns where students were huddled together. No one slept alone that night.
Although we were all young and scared from not being able to get in touch with family in hard hit places, we were ok.
My own earthquake PTSD did not start until surviving Mexico City 2017... (!!!)
It was our daughter’s 3rd birthday. We were in San Martin. She is 37 and will never forget the sound
To the Daughter of Buck…..As a Dad with a daughter there was and never will be anything that you say to your Dad that would ever change his love for you!!! We were all kids once and Dads remember and are also the most understanding when your kid is just being a kid. You were mad because you wanted to spend time with him. That cancels out everything else. He never even gave it another thought.
Just like in 1989, the media covered wealthy Marina yet over 3000 homes in poorer Oakland were destroyed but largely ignored in coverage.
livin in da shadow of da city... dats why
Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Hollister were all badly damaged but were largely ignored in coverage it has nothing to do with wealth, the reporting was done where the biggest loss of life was, the media was covering the collapse of the Cyprus structure in Oakland
I was really upset at my dad and mean to him before he died suddenly. So. I feel for this girl who lost her dad. Took some therapy but I eventually forgave him and myself. But you never forget, and you carry it with you forever.
I know. It wasn't my father, but my girlfriend and mother of my kids, we got in an argument and she and her brother left, he was drunk and they struck another car head on. They both died. The last thing I've said to her was to f off. I live with it everyday. My kids were too young to remember.
I don't know if you have kids but as a mom with kids ranging in age from 9 to 27. Kids say plenty of mean things out of anger or hurt, and while it may sting for a moment the kids are already forgiven before they even finish saying whatever they said.
I'm sure it was the same with your dad.
It was unlike any earthquake we were used to. It shook and swayed and lasted so long. It was terrifying.
Yes. I was initially stuck in a long hallway of a three-story, wooden-framed building. It swayed so much back and forth that I could see into the rooms. I still recall how the building vibrated for minutes afterward, and all the tress were emptied of leaves, blanketing the road...
Why am I crying? This is awful. Was in San Francisco in 2012. Had no idea about this until today.
I was actually watching the World Series at my house in Ohio with my 13 day old baby girl when the earthquake happened. 64+ people lost their lives 😢, it could have been so much more.
I was 4 miles away from the epicenter in Santa Cruz CA …we just moved to CA…there was incredible shaking near the water…my husband was on highway 17…he thought all his tires blew out..after it was over we biked up to the epicenter in aptos ca…I’ll never forget it
I was 26 living in Hawaii and saw the San Francisco Airport on a trip to California after the earthquake and saw the damage. Mahalo for the documentary at age 60 very chilling
I live in Hawaii now on the side of a volcano that makes earthquakes all the time. I'm a Native of S.F. shakey ground don't borther me. My first one in S.F. was 57'.
I was in Sanfran when this earthquake struck and the building I was living was built in the very early 20th century and I can tell you it was shaken like a rattle and yet not even a crack?! And that quake was a terrifying and violent shaker that I never thought I would experience?? But I did and even now 35yrs on the memory is so strong?! I recall how market street was packed with people walking silently and with complete calm ?! There Was a sense of unity between everybody, it was bit like a scene of a disaster movie?! I have no photographs but very strong memories of that fateful day in the San Francisco 89 quake! What an experience it was I must say.
There are people who were born after this. News on this is historical and informative!
I had to stay late at work. There was a big rush of customers trying to get their oil change done, so they could go home and watch the game. We had just finished the last car. It started small. It kept going. I got to see the concrete driveway ripple. About half of the time I would drive home on the cypress structure. If not for the pre ball game rush, I could very well have been on the cypress. Baseball saved a lot of lives that day.
Cried through this whole documentary 😢
I will never forget that day. I was really sick from a ear infection. I was getting ready for the battle of the bay game. I was in the kitchen when it hit and I thought "man I'm sicker than I thought " when I saw people on TV running and the water in my 25 gallon fish tank sloshing out. I started screaming for my children to get away from the shelves and tv
My first one in the city was 57'. I remember it well. Lunch time, Canpbell's tomato soup and saltines. My mom yelled for us to get under the table, after she had just put my bowl of soup in fron of me. As she turned to turn off the gas on the stove, I took my bowl set it on the seat and pulled it under the table to eat during all the excitement.
In 89' I was eating pumpkin pie after dinner.
I went to SF 2 years after this and still could see the destruction
@@lkgreen01 Like NOLA and Katrina
I remember a movie was done of this tragedy back in 1990 and I was 9 yrs old and I remember the part of the story where the woman was trapped in the car and a surgeon was coming to take her foot. I was ushered to bed before the movie finished but I was traumatized, so much so that for 35 years, I’ve had nightmares about that single event…… until today when I learned her foot never got cut off. Thank God! lol I’ve even told my partner 15 yrs ago that this is my recurring nightmare and come to learn I didn’t need to have this nightmare at all!
7:00 this guy was just like my Dad, thought he had flat tires. My Dad was traveling from Silicon Valley on 880 and thought the same things and wondered why cars were all starting to pull over on the road. But he kept driving so he could get home faster. 😢 My sweet daddy
Genuinely tragic. So many lives changed within 12 hours. My condolences to all the victims.
I was in Santa Cruz not far from the epicenter. 7.2 on the Richter scale. Our house that was less than a few miles from Loma Prieta in Boulder Creek jumped off its foundation 3 feet landed flat. Not one crack in the sheet rock! My mother in law lived there. We called the fire department and got them to get her out of there.
My husband at the time was sent to repair telephone system. The old Ma bell system was still being used. And we soon had service up again. He couldn’t get home because every bridge from Santa Cruz to Monterey had fallen. Scary stuff. I ran throughout my neighborhood with a wrench shutting off everyone’s gas . I’m a retired nurse. I’m always good to be around in an emergency.
I lived in Boulder Creek once upon a time. Rented a house right on the Hwy North of town.
Had a yard full of rose bushes. Also BC.
Being a Native San Franciscan I've lived all over the Bay Area from Fremont to Santa Rosa, to SC and can't remember how many different spots in the city. Raised in San Mateo on the bay in Shorview. I was in Pleasanton on that day. Seems like another lifetime.
I was in moving to San Deigo and driving through SF and I had an overwhelming feeling and begged my husband not to drive over that bridge .. we went through Napa instead.. and not more than a month later, the earthquake hit and we felt in San Diego and the bridge we were to cross collapsed! seeing photos of it made my soul shiver.
I feel so bad for this man. He’s so strong telling this story. 28:43
The Ray marriage's story is an absolute nightmare come true. Just horrific, his rage is totally understandable.
wow that one guy. it's rare enough to live thru one national disaster but dang, two? 9/11? and he and his wife both survived? goodness.
I drove into San Francisco the night of the earthquake. I got behind a few fire apparatus from the California Department of Emergency Services. I followed them over the Richmond bridge and down through Marin county, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city. The city was surreal, everything was dark, the electric powered buses were all stalled along the street. I could see reflections of the flames from the fires in the Marina District. I knew exactly where I was going and drove to my niece's apartment. went up to her apartment and got her and a suitcase full of clothes, loaded everything back into my car and headed back to the bridge. I wasn't in San Francisco for more than 30 minutes.
I was arriving at a business park for night class and it was just amazing to see these buildings swaying and my car sliding. Will NEVER forget it!
Wow. I'm already crying. Such incredible but heartbreaking stories. 😢 How some of them survived is a miracle. Those first responders are amazing people
I wasn't alive for this but I remember watching a movie about earthquakes at like 6-7 years old. My dad reassured me after getting scared that "there's no such thing as earthquakes in GA". THREE nights later, woke up in the top bunk shaking. I remember BARGING into my parents room as it was still going yelling "YOU SAID THEY DIDN'T EXIST IN GA" as plates, books and photos were falling 😂
I lived in Pacifica when the Earthquake hit. It shook the house and just seemed to go on and on! It was terrifying! When i saw the news and the damage i was horrified! I feel blessed my family and i made it through.
I feel so bad for Bill Ray. He's so strong for telling the story of his wife's tragic death 😢
I was 8 years old living in northern Canada. And remember it was the only thing on the news. For days people were trapped in their homes or cars. Truly heart breaking 💔
I was living there then on Bush St. What a horrible day. I broke my ankle when our building partially collapsed. The entire day felt off before the earthquake. 😢 RIP to my favorite teacher.
Thanks for all firefighters’ braveness. You are incredible .
34 years and a few months later... I still give thanks to SFFD and PGE for all their hard work.
My husband's nephew was at that game. His wife and children were at home in Aptos. He had to drive home in the dark, no traffic lights, no communication with his family. Fortunately they were all okay.
I was 8yrs old in 1989 and lived in Concord California (East Bay) and i remember that day very well. I too was watching the World Series with the A's and Giants. I'm 42yrs old now and am still scared to no end of Earthquake's. I'll NEVER forget that day for as long as I'm alive. 😢
My first one was in 57' I now live where they happen in groups daily on the side of a volcano.
Watching this 2024. Very important day for many reasons. My late husband was in CICU in Sacramento Ca dying of congestive heart failure due to a virus. Husband was only 21 yrs old at the time and was just clinging to life. He was put on an emergency heart transplant list. 1989 just so happened to be the first year of Sutter Transplant program in California. Still in its’ infancy at the time and considered a bit experimental then. Well, as it turns out, my husband received his new heart on October 21st 1989, just 4 days after the quake! The doner was a fallen California police officer who had died while working search and rescue in San Francisco following the earthquake! So many people lost their lives that day. But so many were saved as well. My husband being one of them. God bless everyone involved and affected by this horrible event. RIP you’re in my heart and prayers always!
Boy this sure brings back memories.
I was in an economics class at the college of Alameda when this horrible quake struck. Absolute horror.. I'll never forget standing down by the water looking towards San Francisco at night and it was burning. With no lights. 😢
Remember it well... we were transfering out of California and left the state 10 days before it hit. .. boy were we lucky. .
I feel so sad for the man who lost his wife 😭💔 Completely devastating 💔
I was 3 hours away up in the Sierra Foothills in Nevada City, CA at my parents' house, getting ready to watch Game 3 of the Bay Area World Series with my dad. We were both having a beer & a smoke, the TV went out and we looked at each like, "what the hell happened"? My dad was a Chief Building Inspector for Nevada County and instantly knew what the quake meant. As an inspector, he wrote and revised building codes and helped with earthquake retrofit building codes during the 70's, 80's and 90's. The look of sheer terror in his eyes saud it all to me that day.
Although we didn't feel shaking at my childhood home, people in the neighboring town of Grass Valley did. I've ridden out many quakes all over California (including the Landers Quake in '92, Northridge Quake in '94, the Truckee Quake in 2001 and most recently the Challis Quake in 2020 in Idaho), but this one sticks out to me because of the devastation that came with it. It is an integral part of my 20's.....
Interesting re Grass Valley. My brother is in NC.
I remember that day well. I was at the World Series at Candlestick Park with my best friend. I was about 25 years old and living about 4 miles from the stadium. A lifetime ago.
I remember that day like it was yesterday, it was a bad earthquake that killed a lot of people. The one thing that really sticks in my mind was the cypress freeway and how devastating it was to see! I was shocked that there were survivors, but that's where most of the deaths happened which was so sad. I was at my friend's house when it happened and no one I knew got hurt or killed. It felt like a swaying one, but the one earthquake that I remembered was the one in 1999 it was the Joshua earthquake that was down south. That earthquake was a rocky one and you couldn't stand up in it and it did a little bit of damage and no one got killed. But the Loma Prieta earthquake was the most deadliest one that I will never forget.
James Betts MD, was my doctor/surgeon for my inguinal hernia in 1994 and 2005. I had no idea that he was involved on saving the child from the car by slicing through his mother and her carseat.
I was 11 when this hit, I remember it well, felt like the world was ending. My parents were on that road that collapsed that day, luckily it was earlier.
I was 12. I'll never forget it. Santa Rosa.
This was very well made. I tend to get bored rather quickly if the narrator/reporter doesn’t know how to tell the story compellingly. Kudos! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Seeing this just after a cargo ship crashed into the bridge in Baltimore, Maryland and the bridge collapsing in seconds!!
The reality is this was the Santa Cruz, Los Gatos and Morgan Hill earthquake. The center of the earthquake was at Loma Prieta Peak. I was in the Santa Cruz mountains when it hit.
I was 1 year old when this happened and my mom saved me that day thank you mom
My mom lived in LA during North Ridge earth quake only to retire in San Francisco and survive this one.
Nope... Northridge was 5 years (1994) after this (1989)
@@beaandjuno witch one was in the 70s
@@dondoyle8474 1971 San Fernando earthquake
@@flashback0978 thank you.
I was eleven and felt it in Bakersfield.
How did the guy get out but not his wife ? Didn’t he say she was trapped on his stomach? My heart hurts for them..
My late husband and I had just moved to Los Angeles in July of 1989. I remember feeling a bolt or swaying. We were so scared and terrified.
I had been too busy moving to catch any of the playoffs. Finally, got the TV set-up to watch the first game. I was 279 miles away, SW inland California, when this struck. The water in the pool was waving and the overhead lights were swinging back and forth. Instead of a World Series, I watched these horrific scenes.
I remember this, it was so powerful I remember we (my mom and my sisters) was at home in Gary, Indiana and my sister was running and sat down next to us and the house shook. We didn't know it at the time, but as kids and my sister was on the heavy side, we said dang you shook the whole house. We found out the next day it was an after shock that was felt over 2,000 miles away. That was crazy. I never knew how bad it was until I got older and really learned about it.
I was just south of San Francisco, nearer the epicenter, watching the game in my apartment when the quake hit. I have never been so afraid in my life. However, our building remained standing and all my friends and family survived and were uninjured. My sister lived only a mile or so from the epicenter and her home was terribly damaged but she was fine. When the stories began trickling in about the tragedies others had suffered I felt almost guilty for getting off scott free!. A number of us spent the night on our pastor's living room floor. He helped to keep us sane. What a horrible day. 😢
I was living in the Bay Area when this happened. I remember we lost electricity and couldn't get in touch with other family members for a while. I also remember the young men who lived in the neighborhood that the Cypress Structure cut through were the first rescuers. They got ladders from their homes and pulled survivors from their burning cars.
I remember that day. I felt helpless.
I remember this very well. I was in NY watching the game with my son and nephew.
Fantastic video!
Man how scary that must've been. 🙏
The neighborhood I lived in, in San Francisco, in 1989 - was the last neighborhood to have the power restored. This is the first time I have ever seen any of this footage (no power, no tv). Powerful stuff, especially if you were there.
Every wall in my 4-story, wood frame apartment building was cracked. Corner apartments sustained the most damage, and people lost furniture - like big china cabinets that toppled and broke and all their contents shattered. In the more central apartments, walls cracked, and I had windows that flew open and individual things fell. We felt lucky being more in the center. But the aftershocks were terrifying.
In the weeks and months that followed, every building in the city was examined, to see if their foundations and structures were safe. Earthquake safety restructuring of buildings went on for years.
That must have been so terrifying. We had a 5.7 and that was enough for me. Did you end up staying in your building?
When our building was eventually inspected, it was deemed to be structurally safe. Only the plaster wallboard had cracked - not any of the actual structure or foundation.
@@roserose8283 Well, that's good. Was it still nerve wracking to stay even though the building was deemed safe? They deemed our 100+ year old building safe except a portion where a chimney on the roof was threatening to collapse. During the weeks that followed we could hear cracking noises every time there was an aftershock and I had horrible visions of us being buried alive in our basement apartment.
@@kimberlysevastyanenko3798 - OMG - a basement apartment! Yikes! I can’t even imagine how scary that would have been!!!
I remember being in the McDonald's drive thru with my parents and it was shaking like crazy. The past few nights the aftershocks were pretty big too.
I remember watching this on the news and reading about it in the newspaper! I wasn’t a resident of CA back then and was residing out in the South. I was in the 8th grade and had to write a paper about the terrible events of the “Great Quake” of 89 in my “Earth Science” class back then. I had nightmares for days and wasn’t even residing in CA! 💔💔💔😢😢😢😢😢
I had absolutely NO IDEA I was going to end up moving out this way as an adult back when I just turned 30 years old!! (2005) My heart ❤️ STILL goes out to all of those who lost their lives along with others!!!
This is the event that made me decide to go into search and rescue. I was in NYC and felt hopeless I couldn’t help . Years later, I would end up working at 9-11. As horrible as this was , there is a silver lining that made many of us go into this field.
I was in the Tenderloin on a job interview. We were in a coffee shop in the culinary institute. I ran out the doors to be surrounded by hundreds of people in white chef’s outfits. Thousands of aftershocks afterward, I stayed home in my studio in Petrero Hill for the next five days, trying not to drink. My little glass vase on top of the bookshelf fell to the floor and landed right on top of a pile of dirt from my broken flower pot, which saved the vase from breaking.
My dad was almost on that bridge an hour too late!! God bless he wasn’t
I was working night shift when this happened. I turned on the tv and saw this. I thought it was a movie. It was so crazy. It was a sad day all the people injured and or killed
I remember when this happened. I was 7years old. I remember watching the tv praying for those in grave peril and their families. Mine included since my family was from palo alto, san jose, etc.
AMAZING Brave men! 🙏🏻
Too traumatic to watch but im glad this video was made. I saw too much that day😞💔
I was at the game when it happened, I managed to get out of the bay on a 1987 GSXR 1100.
I was there just 5 mo earlier. Had a friend that lived there I was so worried about. She left work early that day and made it across the bridge just shortly before the collapse.
I'll never forget that feeling of being on a spinning flat plate. The sound of the ground, I'll never forget it. I was 8. I had PTSD so bad, i couldn't handle the news on the TV because of extreme nausea. Over the years I couldn't handle my parents driving over the dumbarten bridge for years, and no question, my parents had to avoid the bay bridge due to the damage.
Excellent; heartrending
Why would you build a double decker highway in San Francisco?!😮
I agree!!! I had been on that expressway 24 hrs earlier visiting my sister near Walnut Creek. Luckily her house wasn't damaged!
I was at Japantown Bowl when the quake hit. I had just threw a ball down the lane and the overhead monitors swayed and then the lights went out. A bunch of us jumped into our friend Calvin's pickup and made our way to the southern part of the city. I remember going down Van Ness Ave with all the other vehicles with no traffic lights working. I also got the pleasure to work with Jerry Shannon at St. 9 and he was very modest when he told me about the marina fire and rescue. Great man who was doing his job and duty.
I was on the Marin county side of the Golden gate bridge. Our office was on the landfill used to expand the area. It wasn't unusual to hear the San Quentin guards at shooting range practice. It looked like the world was ending it felt like the world was ending. It took hours to get a transit bus home and my kids were home alone. I'll remember that day forever.
I remember this like it was yesterday. The baseball game happening saved so many lives because more folks weren’t on the road as a result of it.
I was just a kid in Southern California when our backyard porch and windows suddenly cracked and jolted. Mom turned on the TV and they were starting to report on the earthquake.
Did you feel the 1994 Northridge quake? If you did, were you in Northern California when it hit..? Did Northern California feel the quake..?
The only time I didn‘t sleep through aftershocks was the earthquake that hit Redding in the summer of 1998. I vaguely recall this earthquake, but I was 7 or 8 at the time.
Damn this is tough to watch. I feel so bad for Bill Ray and also for Desiree Helm as she never got to apologise to her father. This is why we should never use the "hate" word as it's such a strong word that only leads to anger and sadness and as in Desiree's case you might regret that later
This breaks my heart
The worst happens is also los Angeles in 1989 and 1990s
no, the worst happened in San Francisco in 1906
I was on the bay bridge that day, didn't hear about the earthquake until 10 hours later when I got home. Still not sure by how much time we missed it by.
Are you guys forgetting that one of the many lucky survivors of this disaster was Raina Telgemeier and her family?
Brilliant journalism
Each story was a double whammy what disaster after another my heart goes out to these people
Great story thank you for this ❤
We lived in San Bruno, I was 2 weeks old, and the earthquake struck as my mother was in the shower, and she always tells this story bc my sister was in LA with my dad at Disneyland. She ran out of the shower stark naked, grabbed me and my brother, and ran out to the front yard in only a towel. It was one of those fight/flight moments.