Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 18, 1994, Winnipeg, Manitoba Inside Story Winnipeg free press q p january do fires Burn in devastated Oak Ridge trailer Park in Devil jolts City of Angels earthquakes fury rattles survivors by Wendy Mccann Canadian press los Angeles it was As if the City had and the Northridge Meadows apartments Complex bore the Brunt of the devastation unleashed by the you Felt like the Devil was Send ing everybody to said Scott a computer consultant who moved to California one year ago from it was the most evil thing Ive Ever Kormos was one of the Lucky ones at the 164unit he sur at least 14 people died More than 30 were injured As the situated near the epicentre of the Only a tiny portion of the first floor was visible above weve got a three Storey apart ment that now a weve got people were pulling out All the said fire Steve damage mounted while damage mounted across Southern losses were heaviest in the communities sur rounding about 32 kilo metres Northwest of los the yellow stucco Meadows apartments building was completely mostly sloped Down on one it was As if everything from the inside had been pushed through the cloth bedroom and hair dryers were scattered on the it was like bomb going said Erik a 27yearold emergency medical technician who lived on the third Kormos third floor Corner apart ment split sending him and his belongings he ended up under his Pearson also escaped and helped Rescue at least six my hands Hurt real bad just from holding he we made vehicle flipped when the Simi Valley freeway human chains going up to the third we just grabbed people and held them As they came i had two people go into cardiac arrest right in front of but the worst thing i saw was the lady who had a beam pinned on her she was lying on a King sized bed and she was still alive when i got to but she was gone when i came Back with the building housed mostly Stu dents at a nearby California state University an identical building next to it but did not residents who escaped sat dazed on the two dozen fire trucks los Angeles hit by major earthquake the quake was Felt at local time for about 30 seconds or and several aftershocks followed within it was centred in which is 32 pm East of downtown and measured on the Richter fireballs explode from ruptured Gas based upon preliminary reports As of major structural damage the fou level intersection of interstates 5 and Highway 14 near Sylmar property damage Monica the Fairfax Avenue overpass of the Santa Monica freeway 710 Long b san Francisco contacting la by phone los Angeles Pacific Bell is blocking Calls into Southern California to keep the Telephone network open to people in the according to Pacific Bell spokeswoman Judy people calling into the area will get a message saying All circuits Are shocked women huddle on Santa Monica and More than 100 firefighters were on the firefighters used dogs in a bid to find More it moved North eight feet me tres or it just said Bob de chief of the los Angeles fire you make a House of you push it that what happens across the some Highway ramps were flattened like buildings were reduced to tangled heaps of others traffic lights were out through most of the at least Homes were without Power immediately following the shaken relatives left in the dark loved ones1 phones shut Down As television relays devastation by Alexandra Paul staff reporter when the phone rang yesterday Sandra Paterson Greene jumped for with a son in los the Winnipeg Mother could Only Hope for his id tried phoning him and All i got was Mabell telling me the lines were Down because of the Paterson so she when he i burst into she across the province families worried about relatives in los Angeles and the san Fernando Valley hit by a powerful earthquake As television reports recounted stories of collapsed buildings and freeways and devastating in the cites emergency measures coordinator Mark Bennett cautioned that time is critical in los by their tend to be extraordinarily destructive and the first 72 hours is generally the worst time after an then there is a resumption of services after Bennett for news from her 19yearold son Marshall Paterson was a he was Okay even if his Home was the fridge in the House where he was staying was thrown five feet across the Kitchen the scariest part was that it was pitch but he could hear things she red Cross officials yesterday were preparing to take Calls from people worried about family and friends who cannot be reached because overloaded Telephone Dave free press Paterson Greene monitors news reports on the lines have been shut Well take inquiries but the american red Cross is not accepting inquiries for the first 72 Winnipeg spokeswoman Sandra Gerhart the delayed response is the result of a decision by California red Cross officials to concentrate initial efforts on meeting crucial needs such As evacuation in the quake id be totally frustrated if i had relatives there a sympathetic Gerhart its an unfortunate waiting period to get things in she the Winnipeg senior citizens radio club is taking Calls to track the welfare of relatives through a North american shortwave radio network set up yesterday by the United one woman who is almost certain to Call on shortwave is Mary her Friend of 40 years Ann Safian lives in the 818 Are code Exchange that was closed to in wondering about if she if Shes weathered the Mcdonald one exc Alif wornian in Winnipeg said yesterday that news reports hit close to i moved Back to Winnipeg this july and i heard the Laci Enago exit on the Santa Monica freeway Charles Bernstein that was a three to five minute drive from my previous he this son is mama by Ann Oneill and Henry Chu los Angeles times los Angeles at the place the huge temblor chose to take its greatest the woman stood Vigil by an Oak peering into the rubble of what had been her her name was Hyun Sook Lee and for four hours she stood by the Northridge Meadows where As Many As 40 first floor apartments collapsed under the weight of the two floors kill ing at least 14 where there had been a courtyard with water Falls and there was now a subterranean void less than a foot the woman stood and looked for some sign that her husband and 14 year old son would somehow that searchers would find them under that Mountain of a had managed to crawl out of her first floor apart so had her other though his leg had been but her Phil and her had not made it at paramedic Dave Thompson approached listen to your How old is your son he this son is he is Lee dissolved into her Shoul Ders wracked by an hour Thompson again brought the worst of he told her that her Hus band was also that there was no Way he could have in the hours immediately follow ing the it became Clear this 160unit Structure would be come a focal Point of the tragedy that stretched throughout los Ange resident Kym whose apartment was on the third said the earthquake gave a huge Jolt and then everything began to shake belongings were hurtled about the crashing and the whole apartment then began to move like some horrible the temblor was virtually torquing the Plung ing upper apartments All we could hear were people help help 1 cant get she i heard a lot of screaming and crying when it first then a lot of the silence scared me More than ;