European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 18, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes California earthquake tuesday january 18,1994 Tern Lor moves mountains ii Teraila Pasadena Calif. A the powerful Earth quake that hit Southern California Early monday pushed two Mountain ranges higher and closer together making the san Fernando Valley slightly narrower seismologists said. The quake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale was part of the ongoing ground movement that some Day will drag los Angeles North to where san Francisco is now located. The big picture is it s sort of smashing the san Fer Nando Valley together said Jim Mori a seismologist with the . Geological Survey. How much closer the Santa Monica and san Gabriel quake from Page 1 As the Golden state and Antelope Valley freeways. Cars could be seen crushed be Neath the collapsed intersection and at least one person an unidentified police motorcycle officer was crushed to death. In addition a freeway Bridge was reported damaged on state route 118, the Simi Valley freeway. Besides the police officer the verified death toll included five people who died of quake related heart attacks three at Cedars Sinai medical Center in los Angeles and two at holy Cross medical Center i Sylmar. Two people died when a Hillside Home collapsed in Sherman Oaks the fire department said. In Rancho Cucamonga a woman died when she slipped in her Homeland broke her neck. And in Northridge in the san Fernando Valley nine  when an apart ment building collapsed. We be got a three Story apartment that s now a two Story. We be got peo ple we re pulling out All the time said fire capt. Steve Bascom. The building a half Block from califor Nia state University at Northridge housed mostly College students. An identical build ing next to it buckled but did not  Andrews the state emergency services director noted that the Early hour and the Martin Luther King or. Holiday reduced the number of people exposed to in jury. -. At the Sylmar Hospital which was swamped by More than 250 new patients disaster coordinator Mark Wallerstein told those without serious injury to go else where. We have no Power no Laboratory no x rays no pharmacy and almost no food Wallerstein told them. He later said the Hospital was operating on emergency Power. In los Angeles Cedars Sinai was receiving a tidal wave of walking wounded Hospital spokesman Ron Wise said. Sylmar the epicentre of a devastating earthquake in 1971, was blanketed by a Black Naze of smoke. From the air at least 30 to 40 Homes could be seen burning. Nearby in Granada Hills water from broken water Mains raged through the streets. Fireballs from ruptured Gas Mains exploded in the midst of the floods. Residents formed lines filling buckets with water from a swimming poof and toss Mountain ranges moved monday will be determined from data to be collected Over several Days Mori said. Normal movement in the area pushes them about a Quarter Inch closer each year. The Long Range forecast has los Angeles moving to san Francisco s location in something like 50 million years Mori said. Monday s quake struck on a previously unknown fault connected to the same system that was involved in the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. That temblor resulted in nine deaths and was estimated at 5.3 to 5.9 on the Richter scale. It also struck near the epicentre of the devastating 1971 Sylmar earthquake but was believed to have occurred along a different fault line than the Sylmar quake. It struck at 4 31 . In an area full of fault lines Cre ated by the constant pressure caused by the movement of the Santa Monica and san Gabriel Mountain ranges that form the san Fernando Valley. Eventually these Mountain ranges will hit each other and become one Mountain Mori said. The main Shock was followed within hours by six major aftershocks including two of magnitude 5.0 or greater and four of magnitude 4.0 or greater. There also were two dozen of magnitude 3.0 or greater. A file the second and third floors of a veterans Hospital in Sylmar Calif., Teeter after an earthquake in february of 1971. Sylmar was near the epicentre of the Northridge earthquake that hit the los Angeles area Early monday. Ing the water onto their Homes hoping to prevent the spread of fire. Fires also were reported in Sherman Oaks and elsewhere in the Region. The epicentre of monday s quake was Northridge according to Lucy Jones a seismologist at the California Institute of technology. Northridge is a College Community in the Valley 20 Miles Northwest of downtown los Angeles. The san Fernando Valley which spreads for 50 Miles North of downtown is a suburban expanse of 3 million people. Most of it is within the City of los Angeles. . Geological Survey spokesman Rob Ert Wesson said of the quake it s not the big one we hear about so often. The real Impact of this earthquake is because it has occurred in a metropolitan  he added that he was surprised by the damage to the freeways because freeway construction standards were improved and freeways upgraded after the 1971 quake. The temblor was Felt for hundreds of Miles at least As far away As san Diego 125 Miles to the South and Las vegas 275miles to the East. Rip Dan said there had been major damage from the quake but insisted that the City had the situation under control. Referring to the damaged Section of the Santa Monica freeway which ferries hundreds of thousands of commuters Between the West Side and downtown each Day Riordan said that freeway will be close for quite a  the freeway overpass at Fairfax Avenue buckled like a wave dropping to about 6feet above Street level. But the scene at the collapse of inter states 5 and 14 a four level interchange was far More horrific with one stretch of Road jutting into space the remainder lying on the Highway below it. The Alaska tsunami warning Center in Palmer Alaska measured the quake s magnitude at 6.7. The . Geological sur vey in Menlo Park said 6.6. The last big earthquake to hit the area was on june 28,1992. Fake time out from schedule los Angeles a the Earth quake that struck Early monday Crum pled the big a sign at Anaheim stadium and prompted the postponement of the Sacramento Kings los Angeles Lak ers basketball game in Inglewood. Santa Anita in Arcadia North of los Angeles planned to go ahead with its horse racing card and there were no immediate reports of damage to other stadiums and Arenas in the area. At Anaheim stadium about 30 Miles South of los Angeles and some 50 Miles from Northridge reported to be the Epi Center of monday s quake the damage was extensive. The quake Shook Down a Row of Bill boards in the left Field Corner and the towering a logo behind Center Field of Anaheim stadium Home to the califor Nia Angels baseball team and the los Angeles rams football team. Advertising billboards and the pointed a line Structure leaned precariously Over the playing Field and debris and pieces of the rotating billboards were scattered across the upper deck seats. Bret Colson an Anaheim City spokes Man estimated the damage at $3.4 Mil lion which hurts simply because our deductible is 5 percent of the value of the Structure he said making the deductible $6.25 million. The stadium was built in 1966 at a Cost of $24 million. The advertising billboard was put up seven years ago As part of an $8 million improvement package when the rams moved to Anaheim from the los Angeles coliseum. About a mile from Anaheim stadium the new Anaheim Arena completed last summer apparently escaped without significant damage. The Arena is Home to the National hockey league s mighty ducks. John Nicoletti spokesman for thearen said we were Able to weather it very Well. The building is built structurally sound. Everything is  although there was no damage immediately apparent at the forum where the lakers were to play Host to the Kings in an afternoon game the game was postponed because of the quake. The nation Al basketball association said the game would be rescheduled. Brakes from Page 1 was improving but Crew members and passengers were having trouble reaching the Airport because of buckle roadways. United airlines the biggest Carrier at the Airport said loss of Power at its main terminal slowed boardings. United was diverting some los Angeles bound flights to nearby airports. United was advising travellers to Call the Carrier before leaving to catch flights from los Angeles. American airlines another big Carrier in an out of los Angeles also was telling passengers to Call first. The airline delayed at least 15 flights from the main Airport and cancelled about 20 inbound flights monday morning. American airlines spokesman John Hotard said the Carrier would not hold flights for passengers who Are late but would rebook them on later flights. He said the airline wanted to stay close to schedule to prevent delays from rippling through its route network. There also were indications that flights were delayed elsewhere As jets were tied up in los Angeles. Winter storms in the Midwest the Ohio River Valley and on the East coast also were slowing airlines. Power outages forced some Oil companies to close West coast refineries and los Angeles based companies including Lockheed corp., closed Headquarters. Pacific Bell the regional phone company was blocking Calls into Southern California to keep the Telephone net work open to people in the area said spokeswoman Judy Peterson. American Telephone & Telegraph co., the nation s biggest Long distance operator said callers trying to reach los Angeles were bound to encounter Busy signals. Because of the earthquake related heavy volume of Calls we have instituted network controls that favor peo ple trying to Call out of the area at to spokesman Wai Ter Murphy said. That s a Normal network operating practice in some thing he this he said. Your controls Are such that you try to allow people in the area to communicate