A Close Shave With Nature: 6.1 Earthquake Rattles Southland

I have lived in the quiet community of Whittier for 12 years now, and was awakened by the earthquake last Thursday morning to the most frightening experience of my life. After realizing that our little town was indeed one of the most devastated areas, I was even more frightened.

I think all of us in the area had the feeling that we were sitting on a time bomb and still do. Be that as it may, I consider myself extremely lucky. My small apartment shook like hell during the main quake and again during the Sunday morning aftershock, but I was not injured and I still had a reasonably solid roof above my head.

Watching the havoc being broadcast over the news increased my feeling that as bad as it had been, it could have been a lot worse. Also, seeing how we as a community had handled the disaster gave me a good feeling. Everyone pitched in to help out. We kept our heads.

It wasn’t until Sunday morning when I went to uptown to visit my girlfriend that I saw them--the tourists, the gawkers, the people from other places that came to see the mess. Hadn’t they been watching the news? Hadn’t they had their fill of this yet? I personally felt no desire to stroll along the streets of once-undisturbed uptown Whittier, or cruise the cracked cobblestones oohing and aahing at the destruction.

Well, to all of you that couldn’t find anything better to do with your Sunday afternoon than to scrutinize the plight of our devastated town firsthand, I hope you’ve had your fill. But in case you haven’t and feel like coming back to Whittier for another helping of true-life disaster, I hope if we have another aftershock, you’re here when it happens. Then you’ll really have something to tell your friends and neighbors.

NEAL FUGATE

Whittier