10/17/1989 Loma Prieta
I would like to ask all of my friends for 15 seconds of silence at 5:04pm (PDT) today for those that have passed to the other side as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake here in the bay area. (15 seconds, as that is how long the earthquake lasted.) (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loma_Prieta_earthquake)
I was 20 at the time, and enjoying life. I was holding down a job, college, and living on my own. At 5:04pm, just as the Giants were about to take on the A's in the World Series (Game 3), the earth moved (and not in the good way you are thinking, get your mind out of the gutter). 28 minutes later, I received the call that I had been dreading. I was a part of, what later became CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), and was being activated. I dropped off my friend who happened to be with me at the time and drove to the assembly point. I was shortly sent out.... To the Cypress Structure in Oakland. First it was for rescue, then within hours it became a recovery mission.
To this day, 22 years later, the images still haunt me (and probably will until I pass over). I was able to help many people, but for a lot of them, there was nothing we could do.
Please feel free to pass on the request to others.
I was 20 at the time, and enjoying life. I was holding down a job, college, and living on my own. At 5:04pm, just as the Giants were about to take on the A's in the World Series (Game 3), the earth moved (and not in the good way you are thinking, get your mind out of the gutter). 28 minutes later, I received the call that I had been dreading. I was a part of, what later became CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), and was being activated. I dropped off my friend who happened to be with me at the time and drove to the assembly point. I was shortly sent out.... To the Cypress Structure in Oakland. First it was for rescue, then within hours it became a recovery mission.
To this day, 22 years later, the images still haunt me (and probably will until I pass over). I was able to help many people, but for a lot of them, there was nothing we could do.
Please feel free to pass on the request to others.