Jan 17 2009
The Northridge Earthquake
On this day in 1994, at 4:30 a.m., residents of the greater Los Angeles area woke up to a strong tremor. This was the first earthquake to strike directly under an urban area in the United States since the Long Beach earthquake in 1953. The earthquake registered 6.7 on the Richter scale. Instrumentation recorded the ground movement and this was the strongest movement on record in an urban setting. The damage from this earthquake was widespread, and sections of major freeways, parking structures, and office buildings collapsed. Collapses and other severe damaged closed 11 roads going to downtown Los Angeles.
72 individuals lost their lives, 9,000 individuals’ sustained injuries and the damages were estimated to be $20 billion, making this one of the costliest natural disasters. The epicenter of the quake was 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles, near the community of Northridge, thus the name of this event – The Northridge Earthquake. Visit the History Channel (www.historychannel.com) for additional information, video and images.
