1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on October 17, 1989 17:04 local time clock in the bay of San Francisco. It had a magnitude of Ms 7.1 and lasted 15 seconds. The epicenter was located at 37.04 ° North latitude and 121.88 degrees west longitude, near the mountain Loma Prieta in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was the strongest earthquake in the region since the great quake of 1906.
The strong quake taught up to a distance of 110 kilometers, damage - mainly in San Francisco, Oakland, on the San Francisco Peninsula, as well as in the cities near the epicenter such as Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Los Gatos. The most damage in more distant areas was caused by soil liquefaction, especially in places where land had been artificially piled up.
A total of 62 people died in the earthquake; property damage amounted to about $ 6 billion.
A result of the quake was the interruption of all communication channels in the bay to San Francisco. Radio amateurs took up the Notfunkbetrieb. This affects, among other things, the Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, the need for an independent transmission medium was evident. As a result of Intel Emergency Amateur Radio Service ( IEARS ) was established, which provides its services to the general public.
In connection with the disaster one of the few psychological studies on the effects of trauma, which also happens to be a short time collected before the traumatic event psychological data originated. The study, which was supposed to have depression on the subject was able to prove that a general tendency to brood increases the occurrence risk of post-traumatic symptoms.
Four days before the earthquake, on 13 October 1989, which appeared in the newspaper Gilroy Dispatch an article in which the geologist Jim Berkland by the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake was predicted. The article appeared under the headline " Is ' World Series ' Quake Coming? ", Referring to a discharged on the day of the earthquake baseball game of the World Series in 1989. Berkland based its assumptions in anomalies of the wave motion, gravity information, the behavior of the animals and other sources. 37.04 - 121.88Koordinaten: 37 ° 2 ' 24 "N, 121 ° 52 ' 48" W