Stop this crazy thing!

The home that my dear friends lived in and the view from a hilltop behind their condos. All units were condemned and they were forced to pay rent (while still paying a mortgage!) while the 2 years of repairs were made.


It has been 12 years and 1 day since we were so rudely awakened at 4:30am to what sounded like a train going through my apartment but felt more like being in a can that was being shaken and thrown on the ground repeatedly. The horror of hearing things breaking and people outside screaming is beyond explanation. Take my word for it, you never want to experience a magnitude 6.9 quake, though I (along with those who lived through the 1971 quake) am convinced it was bigger and reports were circulating that showed it was. Call it a crazy conspiracy theory if you will but the fact that FEMA would've had to dish out way more funds if it was 7.0 or higher and In the wake of the recent Katrina disaster, let's just say that nothing is shocking.
What was truly shocking was how everyone came together to help one another and Los Angeles was a kinder gentler place for months after the disaster. Of coarse the repairs were made and people returned to their bubbles, some lost everything and moved away and some came back after a couple years (like me) but I occasionally hear the conversations especially around the anniversary, "Where were you during the Northridge Quake?" and everyone takes a turn, some embellish and some just shake their heads and mumble "awful, just awful".