Most Are No Longer Rattled by Earthquake

It was 24 hours since the earthquake at Newport Beach, the worst jolt in the area since the big one in 1933, and how nervous was Orange County?

About 1,500 people went to the earthquake preparedness exposition in Irvine, where safety products and lectures on earthquake survival were offered.

And about 105,000 went to the epicenter of the quake, to Newport Beach, where aftershocks were possible but where the sand was warm and the air a cool 70 degrees and the water only 5 degrees cooler.

Laura Malner, 18, of Fontana was lying on the sand when the quake hit Friday at 1:07 p.m. “It felt like they were blowing up the pier,” she recalled.

Not Worried

Worried? “No,” she said. Saturday, she was back on the sand, soaking up sun.

Such Southern California cool was something new to Michael Greene, 26, recently transplanted from Sun Valley, Ida., and now doorman at Mutt Lynch’s bar facing the beach.

Friday’s was his first earthquake. “The strangest thing was that when the earthquake stopped, the crowd gave a big round of applause,” Greene said.

“Hey,” he said, joining in the spirit, “if it happens, it happens.”

If the beach crowd needed justification for its blase attitude, it could have found it Saturday at the Caltech Seismological Laboratory in Pasadena.

Dan Martinez, a seismic analyst, said that underground activity in Newport Beach “is back to normal.” There had been no major aftershocks and only one or two “very small” aftershocks that probably were not even felt.

Small Chance of Action

“There’s nothing,” Martinez said. “If something was going to happen, it probably would have happened by now. There’s a 95% chance nothing’s going to happen.”

Not everyone had returned to normal, however. At the “Ready or Not Emergency Expo” at the Irvine Civic Center, the parking lot, courtyard and Police Department auditorium had been turned over to merchants, service organizations and UC Irvine Extension lecturers, all beating the drum about being prepared.

At one end, a puppet show attracted a handful of young children.

“That earthquake was sure scary,” the teddy bear said. “I was so scared I ran outside.”

“That was a bad idea,” Officer Ollie said. “Don’t you know earthquake rules?”

If you didn’t, there were stacks of comic books to instruct you, along with books and pamphlets and flyers for your parents.

There were also lines of vendors hawking wrenches for turning off gas and water mains; radio that run by cranking them; reserve batteries that are supposed to hold their charge for 20 years, and emergency water in bottles, boxes and bags.

There were T-shirts stamped “Whose Fault Is It?” and candles, waterproof matches, potty bags, folding knives, first-aid kits, dried food, canned food, a sort of sedan chair for carrying the disabled up and down stairs, and the electronic Quakeawake, which is supposed to sense the earliest tremors and give 20 to 30 seconds of warning.

Frannie Winslow, Irvine’s emergency management coordinator, said the planning for the expo began last October with no idea that Saturday would be the best possible date for the event--the day after a particularly sharp, frightening but low-level quake. No major injury or damage was reported.

“We’re hoping people now will be motivated to protect themselves,” she said.

It worked on Ed and Jeanne McWhirter of Irvine. They were at the fair to finish the earthquake survival kit they had begun months ago.

“We got everything in it--dog food, cat food, Kitty Litter, extra glasses--but no food!” Ed McWhirter said.

About $70 later, the McWhirters had enough freeze-dried food for two people for 2 days, a wrench for shutting off the gas main and three plastic-lined boxes designed to store water for up to a year.

“Today, you don’t have to sell. They’re buying,” said Crystal Snedaker, who brought her merchandise from her store in Hacienda Heights. “This area is really active on preparedness.”

Drawing an estimated 1,500 to the 6-hour exposition set a record in the event’s 3-year history, Winslow said.