Earthquake of 1987

I. Introduction

Earthquakes in California are certainly not a surprise. What is a surprise is their unpredictability and randomness. Geologists say there is roughly a 50 percent chance that a magnitude 8 or more quake will hit the Los Angeles area sometime over the next 30 years. And, over the past twenty years, the Los Angeles area has witnessed several earthquakes, and in particular, two that were quite devastating; the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, and the January 17, 1994, Northridge Earthquake. Given the certainty that earthquakes will occur, they still seem to come as a surprise, and leave many communities unprepared to deal with their aftermath.

For example, on October 1, 1987, at 7:42 a.m. the residents of the Los Angeles basin got a jolting reminder of the perils of "living on the fault line." This was due to the so-called Whittier Narrows earthquake. Hardest hit by the quake, was Whittier (pop. 72,000). Whittier is twelve miles from downtown Los Angeles and was the community closest to the epicenter.

When the quake, registering 6.1 on the Richter scale, first struck, it was thought to be centered along the Old Whittier Fault. However, after extensive study, it was determined that it was actually the result of a "new" fault, or a fault that had not previously been discovered by scientists.

II. Lessons Learned From The 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake

What are the lessons learned from the Whittier quake? And, how does this quake compare to other more recent, higher magnitude quakes? Despite the fact that regular warnings are part of California living, repeated in schools, in earthquake exercises, by local and state governments, and even in the front of telephone books, many people were caught off-guard and panicked. Fortunately, Californians learned a lot from the Whittier quake.

The Whittier earthquake was not the "big one" that Angelenos perpetually wait for. This may be hard to comprehend given the extensive damage caused by the earthquake. Although classified as "moderate," the quake left more than 100 injured and six dead, including an electrical repairman buried in an underground tunnel, a college student struck by falling concrete in a campus garage, and three people who died of heart attacks brought on by the shock.

As a spokesman for the city of Whittier put it, the crumbled business district "looks like downtown Beirut." (Kerr, 16). Twenty buildings there were condemned and over 2000 homes were damaged.