Whittier Quake

A small earthquake registered on seismographs this morning but apparently was felt by very few residents who live along the Whittier Narrows fault that caused widespread damage in a destructive temblor nearly two years ago. The 10:15 a.m. quake had a magnitude of 2.1 in ground motion and was centered directly beneath Whittier, 15 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, said Robert Finn of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Previously secret oil company data reveal a major active fault system under metropolitan Los Angeles that most likely caused the magnitude 5.9 Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987, researchers said Thursday. This buried fracture may be capable of larger and even more damaging earthquakes than the 1994 Northridge quake, according to the research, published today in Science.

7:42 a.m. Oct. 1, 1987: City Councilman Myron Claxton was eating breakfast at a Bright Avenue restaurant when the 15 seconds of shaking began. When he ran outside, he could see rising clouds of dust to the north. Falling bricks from uptown buildings raised the dust, he would later learn. To the west, he saw black smoke from a burning house. Ruptured gas lines led to the fire. As Claxton drove east toward his home, he noticed the clock at City Hall had fallen.

The tale of the Junipero Serra branch library in South-Central Los Angeles is a true L.A. story. The original 75-year-old branch on South Olive Street was closed after suffering severe damage in the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. A temporary replacement branch that opened in a mini-mall on Figueroa Street burned to the ground during the 1992 riots.

After the Oct. 1 Whittier Narrows earthquake, Leon Wang wanted to know about water pipes. Patricia Bolton was interested in whether Latinos were provided with adequate follow-up services, while Robert Bolin wondered whether people were still having earthquake nightmares.

The 4.5-magnitude earthquake that struck Monday near Montebello was but the latest in an unusual rash of temblors in the region over the last three years, and bolstered a growing sense among scientists that a newly discovered fault running from Whittier to Malibu could be an active supplier of moderate or even strong quakes. Earthquakes have occurred in Los Angeles and surrounding cities more frequently in the last three years than during any other period since roughly 1930, when detailed recording of earthquake activity began, seismologists and scientists said Monday.

Even before the shaking stopped ham radio operators were establishing communication links with the San Francisco area. Hundreds of volunteers, many staying up all night, pinpointed and communicated information about need for emergency services, damage reports, and handled health and welfare inquiries to and from the area. The major ham radio FM communication link between Northern and Southern California is the Condor system of several linked repeaters (relay stations). This system, built entirely by hams at their own expense, is very reliable because it is not hampered by changes in atmospheric conditions.

The earthquake that rattled the Newport Beach area April 7 was centered at the mouth of the lagoon at Newport Dunes Aquatic Park, according to revised estimates released Wednesday by Caltech. The lagoon, located on the channel leading from Newport Bay to Upper Newport Bay, is just north of East Coast Highway and is part of a marina and a recreation vehicle park. Caltech also slightly reduced its estimate of the earthquake's magnitude, from 4.6 to 4.5. Jim Compas, assistant dockmaster at the marina, said he was sitting in his office only a few yards from the epicenter when the sharp but brief quake struck at 1:07 p.m. "It kind of threw me, first north, then south," Compas said.

Regarding Ralph Cohen's letter (July 8) in response to my article "Gas Shut-off Valve Reduces Fire Risk After Major Quake." (June 24). I disagree with Ralph Cohen's (spokesman for the Southern California Gas Co.) point that automatic shut-off valves are unnecessary because strapping a home's gas water heater provides ample earthquake gas fire protection. If fires from gas leaks are so minimal, why does the Gas Co. recommend that we all know how to shut the gas off at the meter with a wrench?

The day after twin earthquakes shook the Los Angeles region, Father Arnold Gonzales paused near a side wall of the San Gabriel Mission, trying to figure out--as he does almost every time the ground trembles--if any of the deep cracks lacing the 218-year-old building had grown bigger. "It's hard to say when you see these cracks all the time," the priest said. The staff of the historic mission has been living with cracks, jagged fissures and gaping holes ever since the 5.9-magnitude quake of October, 1987, sent chunks of mortar and concrete crashing to the ground.

A magnitude 3.3 earthquake, centered five miles southwest of La Puente, shook the east side of the Los Angeles area at 4:20 p.m. Friday, Caltech seismologists said. Felt as a mild jolt in Downtown Los Angeles, it was centered close to the epicenter of the Oct. 1, 1987, Whittier Narrows earthquake, but was not considered an aftershock of that one. No damage or injuries were reported.

7:42 a.m. Oct. 1, 1987: City Councilman Myron Claxton was eating breakfast at a Bright Avenue restaurant when the 15 seconds of shaking began. When he ran outside, he could see rising clouds of dust to the north. Falling bricks from uptown buildings raised the dust, he would later learn. To the west, he saw black smoke from a burning house. Ruptured gas lines led to the fire. As Claxton drove east toward his home, he noticed the clock at City Hall had fallen.

Regarding Ralph Cohen's letter (July 8) in response to my article "Gas Shut-off Valve Reduces Fire Risk After Major Quake." (June 24). I disagree with Ralph Cohen's (spokesman for the Southern California Gas Co.) point that automatic shut-off valves are unnecessary because strapping a home's gas water heater provides ample earthquake gas fire protection. If fires from gas leaks are so minimal, why does the Gas Co. recommend that we all know how to shut the gas off at the meter with a wrench?

Lane Langford was lucky. His Uptown Whittier bookstore escaped major damage in the Oct. 1, 1987, earthquake that ravaged scores of other businesses. But it soon may be his time to pay. Langford also owns an unreinforced masonry building on Greenleaf Avenue that would not comply with the city's proposed earthquake safety ordinance--a fate possibly worse than the powerful 1987 temblor itself, he said.

Whittier has adopted Watsonville, which suffered extensive damage during the Bay Area earthquake in October, as its sister city, pledging support to help rebuild the farming community. People may donate to a Watsonville recovery fund by contacting Whittier City Hall at 945-8200. In addition, visitors to the Christmas Center, located at the Village Lofts, 7028 Greenleaf Ave.

Mariachis played. Children danced. A politician spoke. And everyone thanked the earthquake. The people who live around Vernon Avenue in South-Central Los Angeles gathered Saturday to celebrate the opening of a new day-care center. Organizers said that if it weren't for the 5.9-magnitude Whittier earthquake two years ago, the David Roberti Child Development Center might never have been built.

In less than a half-hour, two brief but intense earthquakes wrenched a vast area of Los Angeles this morning, causing slight damage, setting downtown high-rises swaying, showering ceiling tiles down onto a Board of Supervisors hearing and forcing evacuations, but otherwise causing no apparent injuries. The quake and aftershock, 25 minutes apart, were also only a fraction apart in strength. Cal Tech seismologist Kate Hutton said the first shock, at 9:57 a.m., measured 4.5 on the Richter scale, and lasted about five seconds.

Even before the shaking stopped ham radio operators were establishing communication links with the San Francisco area. Hundreds of volunteers, many staying up all night, pinpointed and communicated information about need for emergency services, damage reports, and handled health and welfare inquiries to and from the area. The major ham radio FM communication link between Northern and Southern California is the Condor system of several linked repeaters (relay stations). This system, built entirely by hams at their own expense, is very reliable because it is not hampered by changes in atmospheric conditions.