ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 18, 1994                   TAG: 9401180289
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium

QUAKE SHATTERS HOLIDAY

A deadly 6.6-magnitude earthquake - the strongest in modern Los Angeles history - ripped through the predawn darkness Monday, awakening Southern California with a violent convulsion that flattened freeways, sandwiched buildings, ruptured pipelines and left emergency crews searching desperately for dozens of bodies trapped under the rubble.

The 10-second temblor, which was not the long-dreaded Big One but erupted so fiercely that it initially seemed every bit as intense, was blamed for at least 27 deaths.

At least 14 died when a three-floor apartment complex near the epicenter in the Northridge neighborhood pancaked into two stories.

Had all the shaking not struck on a holiday, or if it had begun a few hours later, seismologists fear the damage would have been far more devastating.

Triggered by a fault that squeezed the northern San Fernando Valley between two mountain ranges like a vice, the 4:31 a.m. (7:31 EST) earthquake swamped hospitals with hundreds of injured victims.

The major developments:

The death toll continued to grow throughout the day. Among the victims of the quake was a Los Angeles police officer who drove his motorcycle off a sheared freeway overpass.

Firefighters worked more than seven hours to save a critically injured maintenance worker trapped under 20 tons of concrete that crumbled at the Northridge Fashion Center's parking structure.

Highways across Los Angeles County buckled and crumpled, wiping out major commuter thoroughfares and ensuring that life in the car-dependent region will be disrupted for months to come.

Ruptured gas lines and propane tanks sent fiery balls bursting through asphalt roads, burning as many as 100 trailers at three San Fernando Valley mobile home parks. Meanwhile, a broken water main shattered 100 square feet of pavement, creating a a geyser.

The quake - felt as far away as Oregon and Mexico - left tens of thousands without power, gas or phone service.

Late in the day, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan initiated a citywide dusk-to-dawn curfew. President Clinton pledged immediate federal assistance. California Gov. Pete Wilson, touring the area in a helicopter, said: "You begin to wonder how much Angelenos are expected to take."

California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, touring areas hit hardest, predicted that local authorities would proclaim many older apartments uninhabitable. He said thousands or tens of thousands may be made homeless.

"It was a 6.5 on the Richter scale, but a 10 on my fear scale," said Nick Stevens, 40, an Australian tourist.

Keywords:
FATALITY INFOLINE 


 by CNB