Severe Quake Hits Northern California - October 1989

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in California struck along the San Andreas Fault in the northern part of the state, October 17. More than 60 people were killed and several thousands injured. Some 100,000 houses were reported damaged. The worst damage was San Francisco and Oakland, 75 miles north of the epicenter of the quake. Most of the deaths, more than 40, occured when the upper level of the double-decker Nimitz Freeway (Interstate Highway 880) in Oakland collapsed. The freeway was packed with rush-hour traffic at 5:04p, when the 15-second quake hit. In San Francisco, several fires broke out with the worst being in the Marina district, where a number of buildings were destroyed. Other cities that suffered heavily included Santa Cruz, where much of the downtown shopping district was leveled; San Jose; and Los Gatos. The tragedy struck just minutes before the start of the 3rd game of baseball's World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. The game was cancelled and the crowd of 58,000 evacuated safely. The last survivor to be found, Buck Helm, a longshoreman, was pulled from the wreckage of the Nimitz Freeway, October 21. The U.S. Geological Survey said, October 24, that its estimate of the quake's intensity had been put at 7.1 on the Richter Scale, the 5th strongest of the century, though well below the impact of San Francisco's great earthquake of 1906. Congress, October 25, approved an aid package totalling $4.15B. The World Series resumed, October 27, and Oakland completed a 4-game sweep of the Giants, October 28.