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From YouTube: The Quake: One Year Later (October 1990)
Description
This City Channel Special Report provides an in-depth look at the impact of the Loma Prieta Earthquake in Cupertino exactly one year after the event. The program features a detailed assessment what happened on October 17, 1989--both in Cupertino and Los Gatos--and what the City and community are doing to better prepare for future disasters. The role of the Cupertino Emergency Operation Center (EOC) is also explored.
Featured interviews include Cupertino City Manager Don Brown, Central Fire Protection District Chief Ben Lopes, and Cupertino Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Pat Jocius.
This video is one in a series of programs presented as part of the Cupertino City Channel's digital video archive project.
A
C
D
October
17
1989
a
date
we'll
all
remember.
A
major
earthquake
strikes
Northern
California,
the
largest
in
over
80
years.
We
all
certainly
remember
what
happened
throughout
the
Bay
Area,
but
what
happened
here
specifically
in
Cupertino
in
the
next
half
hour,
we
will
be
joined
by
Cupertino
city
manager,
Don
brown,
administrative,
specialist,
Pat,
Joe
seus
and
fire
chief
Ben
Lopes
from
the
Central
Fire
Protection
District.
But
first
we'll
take
a
look
back:
October
17th,
5:04
p.m.
E
D
Scenes
are
of
Cupertino
City
Hall
the
evening
of
October
17th
1989.
As
a
major
earthquake,
rocked
Northern
California.
The
quake
which
registered
7.1
on
the
Richter
scale,
was
located
10
miles
northeast
of
Santa
Cruz.
It
was
responsible
for
at
least
70
deaths
throughout
the
Bay
Area,
as
buildings
and
overpasses
gave
way
from
Santa
Cruz
in
Los
Gatos
north
into
Oakland
and
San
Francisco.
Billions
of
dollars
in
damage
were
recorded
statewide.
It
was
the
worst
natural
disaster
to
strike
the
nation
since
the
1906
San
Francisco
quake,
which
left
nearly
800
dead.
D
During
the
post
quake
period,
city
officials
were
faced
with
a
number
of
real
live
emergencies.
One
of
the
more
serious
incidents
following
the
quake
was
this
structure
fire
at
75
56,
Orange,
Blossom
Drive
in
south
Cupertino.
The
fire
produced
a
large
plume
that
could
be
seen
for
miles
along
the
western
side
of
the
valley.
Neighbor
Norman
wild
returned
home
to
find
the
fire
raging
out
of
control
just
across
the
street
Don.
D
Incidents
included
an
unconfirmed
report
of
a
landslide
at
deep
cliffs
golf
course.
Several
reports
of
buildings
cracking
or
slipping
on
their
foundations
and
reports
of
numerous
electrical
outages
and
gas
leaks.
One
of
the
biggest
problems
to
affect
Cupertino
occurred
when
operations
at
the
Rancho
Rinconada
water
treatment
plant
were
reduced
to
one-third
of
normal.
Following
the
quake
there.
G
D
H
H
D
On
the
safe
side,
interior
damage
to
homes
and
businesses
was
also
extensive.
Tintin
market,
like
many
other
Cupertino
businesses,
was
closed
for
days
as
cleanup
operations
got
underway.
At
the
Cupertino
library
volumes
upon
volumes
of
books
littered
the
floor,
the
library
remained
closed,
as
personnel
began,
refiling
and
repairing
the
books
here
in
Cupertino.
C
I
That
we've
experienced
is
mostly
cosmetic
cracks
in
the
sheetrock
stress
cracks.
The
the
biggest
problem
we've
had
is
in
the
residential
area,
with
chimneys
chimneys,
either
cracked
or
collapsed,
and
we
have
in
cupertino
16,000
homes
and
we're
doing
a
lot
of
surveys
of
the
upon
requests
from
the
public
to
check
the
damage
in
their
homes.
The.
I
Building's
we
have
here
at
relatively
new
built
to
a
much
higher
seismic
standard.
The
old
buildings
like
you're,
seen
here
in
the
picture,
unreinforced
masonry
buildings
they're,
built
to
standard
that
just
can't
handle
this
type
of
seismic
activity.
The
building's
today
are
designed
just
withstand
that
that
kind
of
a
force
and,
basically
that's
that's
the
difference-
we're
a
new
community
new
plus
cast
is
an
old
community
and
that's
what's
unfortunate
about
it.
The.
D
Loma
Prieta
earthquake
October
17th
was
another
in
a
series
of
quakes
which
have
rocked
the
Bay
Area
during
the
last
decade
since
1979,
several
quakes
of
magnitude,
5
or
greater,
have
hit
within
a
50-mile
radius
of
Cupertino.
The
principal
fault
zones
involved
are
the
Calaveras
fault
along
the
east
side
of
the
Santa
Clara
Valley,
the
Hayward
Fault,
which
runs
north
along
the
East
Bay
through
Oakland
and
Berkeley,
and
the
San
Andreas
Fault,
which
lies
just
a
couple
miles
from
Cupertino
westernmost
boundary.
D
Scientists
are
still
uncertain
as
to
what
all
this
seismic
activity
could
mean.
Records
from
the
19th
century
indicate
a
similarly
active
period
for
several
decades
prior
to
the
1906
quake
back,
then,
earthquakes
were
recorded
on
the
Mercalli
scale,
which
measures
the
intensity
of
local
ground
shaking
the
1906
quake
registered
a
12
on
the
Mercalli
scale,
the
highest
possible
reading,
the
Loma
Prieta
quake
by
comparison
was
only
an
eight
or
a
nine
Mercalli
scale.
D
H
D
D
The
Loma
Prieta
earthquake
October
17th,
was
the
strongest
quake
to
hit
California
in
more
than
80
years.
Most
scientists
agree,
however,
that
the
big
one
is
still
yet
to
come.
When
we
return
we'll
be
joined
by
Cupertino
city
manager,
Don
Brown,
who
will
give
an
assessment
of
the
city's
response
to
the
earthquake
emergency.
D
To
begin
the
interview
segment
of
our
special
report,
we
are
now
joined
by
Cupertino
city
manager,
Don
Brown
Don,
along
with
other
department
heads
from
the
city
of
Cupertino,
we're
on
hand
at
City
Hall
shortly
after
the
emergency
on
October
17th
and
within
a
few
minutes
started
responding
to
the
numerous
emergency
response
reports
that
were
coming
from
throughout
the
community
Don.
If
you
could
take
us
back
one
year
to
that
date,
5:04
p.m.
D
A
Right
Pete
we
after
we
let
go
of
whatever
we
were
holding
on
to
and
got
a
little
blood
circulation
back
in
our
hands.
We
kind
of
gathered
outside
City,
Hall,
I,
remember,
Burt,
vez,
visca
vich,
Public,
Works,
Director
and
I
were
standing
there
and
wondering
how
bad
was
it.
The
buildings
were
still
standing,
the
we
could
see
and
about
that
time
a
Ben
Lopes,
the
fire
fired
district
captain
he
drove
up
and
said
it's
pretty
bad
and
we
should
open
the
EOC,
the
Emergency
Operations
Center,
and
so
that's
what
we
did.
Mm-Hmm
can.
D
A
The
EOC
is
really
designed
to
be
the
point
of
communication
and
coordination
for
the
entire
disaster
operation
so
that
you've
got
somebody
there.
That
has
a
feel
for
the
whole
operation
you're
getting
responses
from
people
in
the
field,
you're
getting
reports
back
and
you're
making
decisions
on
the
primary
activities
that
ought
to
be
taken
at
even
time.
Mm-Hmm.
D
A
It's
mostly
just
gathering
information,
initially
people
in
the
field
sending
people
out
in
the
field
receiving
information
for
people
that
were
out
in
the
field
that
came
in
and
finding
out
what
kind
of
extensive
damage
there
was
in
cupertino
and
then
also
we
were
monitoring
a
television
we
still
had
television
in
the
EOC.
We
set
up
a
television
camera,
a
television
set
and
watched
with
horror,
some
of
the
stuff
that
was
going
on
in
the
rest
of
the
Bay
Area
and
really,
then
only
then
did
we
realized
the
significance
of
the
earthquake.
How.
D
A
We
were
lucky,
we
got
off
with
just
a
few
damaged
buildings
and
we
had
one
loss
of
life
from
the
the
diocese
property,
the
seminary
up
in
st.
joseph´s,
where
a
telephone
worker
was
in
the
tower
up
there
that
collapsed.
We
had
another
gentleman
that
died
shortly
after
the
quake
from
a
heart
attack,
but
not
related
to
any
structural
damage
or
anything
like
that,
but
building,
wise
and
and
and
injuries.
A
D
A
A
The
discipline
of
communication
was
not
well
defined,
and
so
we
had
a
lot
of
information
that
was
wrong
or
was
conflicted
with
what
someone
else
had
told
us
just
ten
minutes
earlier.
So
I
think
that
was
the
biggest
headache
for
us
was
just
sorting
out
what
was
going
on
getting
the
communications
channels
so
that
we
were
getting
accurate
information.
Mm-Hmm
now.
D
Scientists
are
telling
us
that
it's
only
a
matter
of
time,
perhaps
within
thirty
years
before
the
big
one
actually
hits,
and
what
they're
saying
is
that
this
earthquake
could
be
of
magnitude,
8
or
greater
far
more
damage,
far
more
casualties
than
we
experienced
from
the
Loma
Prieta
earthquake.
What
will
the
city
be
doing
in
the
months
and
years
ahead
to
help
prepare
for?
What's
really
in
an
editable
disaster?
Ok,.
A
That's
a
real
good
question:
I
think
it's
one
that
as
public
servants,
we
have
a
very
high
responsibility
to
address
that
question,
and
in
the
last
year,
we've
sort
of
in
fact,
right
after
the
earthquake,
we
did
a
fairly
extensive
debriefing
where
we
went
through
and
we
just
sort
of
analyzed.
You
know
what
went
on
here.
What
did
we
do
right?
What
did
we
do
wrong?
What
things
do
we
need
to
improve
on
in
the
event
that
something
as
bad
or
worse
than
this
comes
along
in
the
future?
A
And,
as
you
say,
it's
virtually
a
certainty
that
we're
going
to
have
at
least
as
bad,
an
earthquake
or
greater
in
in
the
coming
years,
and
so
what
we
did
was
we
just
sort
of
took
stock
and
how
we,
how
we
behaved
as
a
community
in
this
and
again
mostly
I,
think
due
to
luck.
We
didn't
have
a
lot
of
damage
and
we
had
a
tremendous
citizen
response
in
terms
of
helping
each
other
and
kind
of
helping
direct
traffic,
avoiding
accidents
that
sort
of
thing.
A
But
we
took
some
significant
steps,
I
think
in
the
last
year
to
prepare
the
city
initially,
that
is
us
as
a
command
center
in
our
employees
to
be
able
to
respond
efficiently
so
that
we
would
be
able
to
be
of
help
to
people
when
they
needed
it.
So
that
was
the
number
one
thing
we
tried
to
do
is
get
our
own
house
in
order.
Don.
I
M
K
L
D
We
are
now
joined
by
deputy
chief
of
operation,
Ben
Lopes
of
the
central
fire
protection
district
within
minutes
after
the
earthquake
disaster.
Last
October
17th
chief
Lois
had
already
arrived
on
the
scene
and
was
in
the
process
of
setting
up
the
Emergency
Operations
Center
chief
Lopes.
What
was
the
situation
when
you
first
arrived
at
Cupertino
City,
Hall.
B
B
Set
up
TV
and
radio
in
the
Emergency
Operations
Center
and
started
picking
up
some
of
the
pictures
of
the
Bay
Bridge
collapse
and
some
of
the
information
that
came
out
of
the
world
series
the
media
being
focused
in
San
Francisco.
At
the
time
we
had
no
idea
at
the
time
of
the
magnitude
of
the
damage
in
the
Santa
Cruz
County
area,
as.
D
B
Our
resources
as
a
fire
department
were
spread
about
as
thin
as
they
could
be
spread.
We
had
to
prioritize
incidents
based
on
life
first
and
second
property.
The
backlog
at
our
communication
center
was
probably
backed
up
anywhere
from
40
to
50
calls
at
any
given
time.
So
the
individual
units
working
at
the
stations
were
really
setting
priorities
based
on
life.
First,
in.
D
B
Immediately
following
the
earthquake,
there
was
a
house
fire
on
orange
blossom,
not
knowing
the
magnitude
again
at
the
at
the
beginning
of
the
event.
I
responded
to
Cupertino
feeling
that
it
might
be
one
of
the
major
areas
of
activity
as
it
turned
out.
Unfortunately,
we
we
did
have
the
problem
with
the
one
fire,
but
the
damage
was
minimal
in
Cupertino.
B
D
B
Emergency
preparedness
planning,
we
have
to
look
at
the
scope
of
the
event
on
a
regional
basis.
An
earthquake
of
this
magnitude
doesn't
stop
at
the
city
border,
the
the
resources
that
are
committed
to
a
particular
event.
The
people
that
are
impacted
are
really
part
of
a
community,
and
the
community
is
is
larger
than
this
local
area.
I
think
that
we've
we've
learned
that
it's
not
something
that
abates
minutes
after
the
event.
It
continues
on
for
days,
weeks
and
sometimes
months.
D
E
Was
going
to
take
a
job
at
that
engineering
firm
in
New,
York
I
got
a
better
offer,
I'm
building
schools
overseas
with
a
Peace
Corps.
The
pace
is
a
little
slower
than
New
York,
but
here
I'm,
getting
grassroots
experience.
I
couldn't
get
anywhere
else.
The
way
I
look
at
it.
The
world
can
wait
two
years
for
another
40
story,
smoked,
glass,
high-rise,.
H
H
G
M
H
D
Back
to
our
earthquake
special,
we
are
joined
now
by
Pat
juiciest
she's,
the
administrative
specialist
for
the
city
of
Cupertino
and
she's
been
instrumental
in
educating
the
public
regarding
earthquakes
and
earthquake
preparedness
measures.
Pat.
Thank
you
very
much
for
joining
me.
Thanks
Pat.
What
did
we
learn
from
the
Loma
Prieta
earthquake?
The.
C
C
Our
public
safety
response
agencies,
our
police
and
fire
responded
very
well.
This
is
what
they
do
on
a
daily
basis.
They're
well
practiced,
I
believe
that
the
Red
Cross
has
things
to
learn
and
I
think
they
were
able
to
respond
to
the
areas
of
the
most
damage
which
would
be
in
the
Santa
Cruz
Mountains,
and
they
were
not
able
to
respond
as
well
within
the
urban
communities,
but
they
did
not
focus
their
time
and
attention
there
at
the
time
of
the
earthquake.
C
I
think
also
that
the
agencies
that
came
forth
with
the
food
and
the
and
the
other
materials
almost
overdid
themselves,
to
the
point
where
we
didn't
know
what
to
do
with
many
of
the
resources
and
and
they
went
to
waste
in
some
cases
because
they
were
not
distributed
well
enough.
So
we're
working
on
those
plans
right
now
how
to
properly
distribute
materials
that
come
into
an
area
from.
D
Your
experiences
speaking
with
members
in
the
community,
specifically
the
residents
and
individuals
and
you've,
talked
to
them
at
workshops
and
other
various
and
seminars.
Do
you
feel
that
people
were
prepared
at
the
time
the
Loma
Prieta
earthquake
hit,
or
could
they
have
been
a
little
better
prepared
for
something
like
that?
I
believe.
C
C
They
were
very
comfortable
I
believe
in
general,
though,
people
do
not
think
about
earthquake
preparedness
and
therefore
they
have
not
taken
the
time
to
put
water
aside
to
have
a
little
bit
of
food
for
24
to
45,
40,
well,
24,
to
72
hours
to
have
a
first
aid
kit
and
possibly
take
some
cpr
and
first
aid
classes
for
the
Red
Cross
found
that
the
classes
had
gone
down
several
months
after
the
earthquake,
people
had
forgotten,
they
were
not
getting
the
signups,
and
yet
they
should
be
an
ongoing
process
within
the
community.
Mm-Hmm.
D
C
Best
and
most
important
thing
is
to
have
a
plan
with
your
family
so
that
you
can
both
evacuate
out
of
an
unsafe
area,
as
well
as
taking
the
drop
cover
and
hold
position
at
the
immediate
time
of
an
earthquake
and
then
to
be
able
to
communicate
with
them,
if
you're,
alright,
but
secondarily,
to
have
supplies
on
hand,
so
that
you'd
be
able
to
take
care
of
yourselves
again.
You
should
have
your
water
heater
strapped
down.
D
With
all
the
seismic
activity
we've
been
having,
lately,
we've
been
feeling
little
trim
popping
up
all
over.
There
still
seems
it
still
seems
that
some
residents
feel
quite
indifferent
about
earthquakes.
Why
do
you
feel
that
is,
and
how
do
we
go
about
educating
people
as
to
the
severity
of
say?
You
know
what
an
8.0
earthquake
is
I
think.
C
Earthquakes,
because
of
their
magnitude,
sometimes
are
dismissed
from
people's
minds
because
they
think
it's
too
hard
for
them
to
even
comprehend
and
prepare
for
and
in
reality,
the
earthquakes
themselves
do
not
kill
people,
it's
the
things
coming
down
on
them.
It's
the
lack
of
preparation
and
knowing
what
to
do
exactly
when
the
earthquake
strikes
that
can
save
lives
and
save
property.
Those
are
all
things
that
can
be
prepared
for,
but
people
think
of
it
as
such,
a
big
project
to
take
on
that.
They
don't
even
take
the
first
step.
C
D
Like
to
thank
once
again
my
guests
for
this
evening:
Cupertino
city
manager,
Don
Brown,
administrative,
specialist,
Pat,
Joe,
seus
and
Fire
Chief
Ben
lows
from
the
Central
Fire
Protection
District.
If
you
have
any
other
information
that
you
would
like
to
learn
regarding
earthquake
preparedness
measures
right
to
the
city
of
Cupertino,
10300
Torrey,
Avenue,
Cupertino,
California,
nine,
five,
zero
one,
four!
Thank
you
very
much
for
watching
and
have
a
good
evening.