U.S.: The 1989 Bay Area quake, 20 years later: A live-on-TV disaster
Twenty years ago today, one of the scariest events to hit the West Coast in the 20th century – the Loma Prieta Earthquake – hit the Bay Area. It was in the midst of a World Series that pitted the Oakland A's against the San Francisco Giants, so it literally happened live. (Al Michaels called the play-by-play on the incident. Or at least he tried.)
- What happened? The quake was an iconic piece of the late ’80s. Among other things, it took out the Oakland Bay Bridge, a heavily trafficked bridge, at a time it was being heavily used. Despite the incident’s $7 billion in damage, only 63 people died. That’s because it hit in the less-densely-populated Santa Clara County, away from major urban areas. In a way, they got lucky.
- What to learn Many lessons were taken from the incident – new buildings have to be made to code, for example, and much work is being done to inform people ahead of time – though the technology isn’t there yet. But many in-danger areas that haven’t had quakes in hundreds of years – St. Louis and Seattle, most notably – haven’t done enough to prepare. source