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The Loma Prieta earthquake was a major (surface-wave magnitude 7.1). The quake killed 62 people throughout central California, injured 3,757 people and left more than 12,000 people homeless. http://www.sfmuseum.net/alm/quakes3.html#1989 The Epicenter was located in Forest Of Nisene Marks State Park , in the Santa Cruz Mountains (geographical coordinates ), near unincorporated Aptos and approximately 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Santa Cruz . The quake was named for the nearby Loma Prieta Peak which lies 8 km (5 miles) to the north-northeast. The earthquake caused major damage as far away as the Marina District in , San Mateo , Santa Clara , Santa Cruz , and Monterey Counties . Major property damage that occurred in the more distant areas resulted from Liquefaction with soil used to fill the waterfront properties. Other effects included Sand Volcanoes , Landslides , and ground ruptures. The earthquake occurred during the warm up for the third game of the 1989 World Series , coincidentally featuring both of the Bay Area's Major League Baseball teams, the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants . This was the first major earthquake in the U.S. to be broadcast on live television. SCIENCE, EFFECTS AND RESPONSE Given the distance between the quake's epicenter and the Bay Area, geologists were surprised at the severity of the resulting damage. Subsequent analysis indicated that the damage was due to the amplification of the earthquake's Seismic Waves by waves reflecting off of the deep (about 24 km(15 miles)) discontinuities in the Earth's surface. There were 57 deaths directly caused by the earthquake, and six more deaths were ruled to be indirectly caused by the Temblor 1 . In addition, there were 3,757 injuries as a result of the earthquake. The highest concentration of fatalities, 40, occurred in the collapse of the Cypress Street Viaduct on the Nimitz Freeway ( Interstate 880 ), where a double-decker portion of the freeway collapsed, crushing the cars on the lower deck. One 50-foot (15 m) section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge also collapsed, causing two cars to fall to the deck below, leading to the single fatality on the bridge. The bridge was closed for repairs for a month and one day, reopening on November 18 . While the bridge was closed, ridership on Bay Area Rapid Transit and ferry services soared, along with traffic levels on nearby bridges such as the San Mateo Bridge , Richmond-San Rafael and the Golden Gate . Because the 1989 Loma Prieta quake occurred during a Tuesday evening Rush Hour , there normally would have been a large number of cars on the freeways at the time, which given the collapse of the Bay Bridge, would have killed hundreds of commuters. However, due to the World Series , many people had left work early or were participating in after-work group viewings and parties. As a consequence, the usually crowded freeways were experiencing exceptionally light traffic. The initial media reports failed to take into account the game's effect on traffic and initially pegged the death toll at 300, a number that was corrected in the days after the earthquake. 2 Extensive damage occurred in San Francisco's Marina District where many expensive homes built on filled ground collapsed (much of the fill came from rubble which was bulldozed into the bay following the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake ). Fires raged in some sections of the city as water mains broke. San Francisco's Fireboat (the ''Phoenix'') was used to pump salt water from San Francisco Bay through hoses dragged through streets by citizen volunteers. Power was cut to most of San Francisco and was not fully restored for several days. The Epicenter of the quake was located in an unpopulated area of Santa Cruz Mountains near Aptos. Although the much of the damage and most of the mortalities occurred in the San Francisco/Oakland area, geologists/seismologists estimate earthquake's intensity near the epicenter region at between 6.9 and 7.1 on the Richter Scale. The communities nearest the epicenter are all in Santa Cruz County . Deaths in downtown Santa Cruz occurred when brick storefronts and sidewalls in the historic downtown (what was then called the Pacific Garden Mall ) tumbled down on people exiting the buildings. There was significant structural damage to beachfront villas of Capitola Village , when the fireplaces and end-walls of a landmark row-style hotel collapsed onto the sidewalks. The quake claimed a number of lives in Watsonville , one of the poorest areas of Santa Cruz County and home to a large population of farm workers. Many older wooden structures were knocked off of their foundations and collapsed. Many residents were displaced from their homes. Additionally, the quake was responsible for significant structural damage in Salinas and Monterey , where several buildings collapsed in the Old Town District of Salinas. The quake caused an estimated $6 billion in property damage, becoming the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history of its time. It was the largest earthquake to occur on the San Andreas Fault since the great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake . Private donations poured in to aid relief efforts and on October 26 , President George H.W. Bush signed a $3.45 billion earthquake relief package for California. ELABORATION OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS |
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