BAY AREA QUAKE : Voices: Recalling the Moment

“It felt like one of those huge monsters from a Japanese horror movie grabbed a hold of the building and was shaking the hell out of it”

--Margie Cornehl, a city planning employee in San Jose, who was working on the fourth floor of the six-story City Hall

“At first I thought the smoke was fog. Then I could see a big ball of flame.”

--Cecile Candone, who was driving south toward San Francisco from the Sonoma wine country when she spotted the Marina district fire.

“I’ve never been so scared. People were fighting to get under the desks.”

--David Balague, on the 14th floor of the Bank of America building in San Francisco

“I thought I was losing my balance, then I saw the lamp post sway one foot each direction. Then I saw falling glass, broken glass on the street, but luckily not near me.”

--Les Galvacs, who was walking down Market Street in downtown San Francisco.

“They said we can go back to our rooms, but I think we will stay out in the bus.”

--British tourist Ann Saunders who was on the fourth floor of the San Francisco Hotel when plaster started falling off the walls

“The federal government will do everything it can to help.”

President George Bush, talking to reporters outside the White House

“This upper deck was absolutely shaking, the light stanchions were blowing back and forth.”

-- Suzyn Waldman, a reporter covering the World Series at Candlestick Park for a New York radio station

“I thought I was on a surfboard.”

--Bob Blanche of Pacifica, who was in Candlestick Park when the earthquake hit

“I wondered who’d raise my kids.”

--Blanche’s wife, Marsha

“We’re having an earth . . . “

An unidentified voice on the ABC World Series pre-game show as the picture turned to static