Northridge Earthquake

* After the past two years, with urban unrest, massive layoffs, crime, floods, fires and now the earthquake, we in Southern California continue to withstand an onslaught of troubles, tragedy and sorrows witnessed by few other, if any, cities of the country. Yet, there has been an incredible degree of courage, resilience and determination among us here to withstand these traumatic and testing times. Some have referred to us as mellow or as flakes or castoffs, but like the soft clay hardened in the kiln, we, under the California sun, have hardened ourselves to not only withstand but continue to thrive under the most adverse conditions.

The next weeks will be trying times, indeed, and will probably push us near the limits, but the price for the glorious sun, the beaches, the mountains, the excitement and diversity will be sweeter as we withstand so much for the experience of those enduring qualities which make this place.

MATTHEW HETZ

Los Angeles

* Mayor Richard Riordan and other city officials are really proud to point to the good job that the city’s emergency crews are doing during the current crisis. If Mayor Riordan has his way we would probably still be negotiating with the contractors to provide response to the current crisis. Events such as the current earthquake underscore the need for a work force made up of city employees, not contractors.

Now would be a good time for the mayor to revaluate his position and realize that in the event of natural disaster or major disturbance a work force controlled by city leaders is of the utmost importance! Not by a contractor.

JAMES HERBERT

El Segundo

* I am a Times subscriber and many of my friends kid me because I love to read the paper so much and always have a stack of things I still want to read but don’t have the time for. When the earthquake hit, my 20-inch TV fell off its shelf. Instead of hitting the floor, it hit my stack of newspaper and survived! Thank you, L.A. Times!

TRACY WALLACE

Hollywood

* In the aftermath of a disaster such as the earthquake, why do the media daily emphasize the negative about utilities--60,000 people still without electricity, 100,000 without safe water, 30,000 without gas?

Nowhere do we see reports such as “DWP and Edison re-established electricity to 120,000 homes in the past 24 hours,” or similar stories about water and gas. Legions of dedicated people go into action to make that happen, often working to exhaustion and at great risk.

We don’t see or read about the extraordinary human interest stories in all that. Why don’t we hear of these quiet doers, their heroism and their victories, working on our behalf?

HARRY T. LARSON

Laguna Hills

* If Orange County is declared a disaster area because of the scoreboard falling at the Big A, does that mean that we can get a low-cost loan to replace our TV that we lost during the earthquake?

BETTY BARR

Orange

* It never ceases to amaze me how people of all races, religions, etc., come together at a time when tragedy strikes. This bonding took place again when the earthquake jolted Los Angeles on Jan. 17, as it did during the civil unrest of April, 1992. It seems to me that the spirit of warmth, kindness and brotherhood ends when the tragedy passes. It’s back to business as usual, and we’ll go back to fighting, killing and hating each other. Why is it so difficult for us to maintain this spirit?

It’s also pretty ironic that the earthquake came on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. A day where people are supposed to honor a man who believed in peace, love and equality for all. I have a feeling the quake was his way of telling us that we better get our act together. For in the final analysis, we are all human beings. We all share the same blood and have desires and aspirations. We all hope that our children will live a better life than we did. So why should one group feel superior to another? And if we could all “just get along,” I think this world would be a better place to live.

LISA M. SANCHEZ

Los Angeles

* It’s easy to see why there was very little looting from the earthquake. Who needs to loot when you can sell water for $10 a gallon and 99-cent flashlights for $7?

STEVE PIRTLE

Whittier

* Now that California is recovering from the Jan. 17 earthquake and moving fast to rebuild collapsed freeway bridges, as an engineer working for Los Angeles, I have a suggestion. I hope that Caltrans will quickly evaluate my suggestion and seriously consider it.

Please let us rebuild these bridges as steel bridges and not as reinforced concrete. With the frequency of earthquakes here in California, why continue to rebuild bridges over and over again? The safety and longevity of steel bridges will make it cheaper in the long-term future of California.

NASRI G. MITRI

Los Angeles

* Re “One Way Is Better Than No Way at All,” Commentary, Jan. 18:

Sam Hall Kaplan admits that BART rescued the Bay Area during the quake, but he doesn’t seem to care for our “pricey Metro Rail.” He criticizes the structural engineers who worked on the Red Line, but forgets to mention that our rail lines fared much better than our freeways. It was the engineers who worked on our freeways who failed to calculate loads and stresses. History shows that in disaster, war and peace, subways are safer than freeways.

JON HARTMANN

Los Angeles

* Kaplan’s article and your editorial of Jan. 18 stopped short of specific solutions that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority must consider in its service to the public. Rail service would answer many problems faced by commuters.

What is needed now is an immediate rail passenger operation over what was called “the Santa Monica airline” of the old Pacific Electric. This line travels westerly out Exposition Boulevard and cuts over Sepulveda at Venice Boulevard. Some right of way is still available beyond this point and would service commuters in the Santa Monica area.

Another consideration is to examine the Santa Fe Line to Redondo Beach, a route that passes by LAX and could alleviate problems motor commuters will endure until the freeways are rebuilt.

I am also in favor of Metrolink service between Montclair and Pasadena. Ridership would remove much traffic on the 210 Freeway.

JAMES E. BEHM

Pasadena

* Tears came to my eyes as I watched the huge, red mechanical bird pecking away at the freeway. Huge chunks of concrete were poked out as easily as a hole puncher going through a stack of paper. And the long metal neck chewed away at the busiest freeway in the world, the lifeline of Los Angeles, a landmark for those of us who’ve lived here all of our lives.

The tears were not for the stretch of freeway brought to its knees, but for those of us who think about earthquakes, for just a split second, as we sit in a crowded movie theater built over concrete parking structures, and in live-performance theaters, when we sit in the center of the room and look at the 10 people sitting to our left and the 10 to our right, impeding our easy access to an aisle that could lead us to safety. The tears were for we who try to pull as forward as possible in our car when we’re at a red light and are sitting under a freeway overpass, we who calm ourselves down by calling ourselves silly and needlessly worried.

Friends actually lost all their breakable belongings. Family went without water and power. My sister was slightly injured this time. And we will have those reminders and the freeway construction to get through before we start to forget again. Maybe that’s what my tears were for. There’s a sadness after an earthquake, a strong desire in some of us to leave the city. Maybe it even chips away at our pride in our city, and that’s what the tears are for.

ZABELLE BEDROSIAN HUSS

Los Angeles

* Earthquake preparedness:

* Keep flashlight on top of refrigerator; enter kitchen barefoot and walk on broken glass; search for flashlight on hands and knees between refrigerator and washer-dryer.

* Find Carol in middle of street and convince her to stop screaming.

* Get in car and drive aimlessly through pitch-black streets with dead traffic signals.

* Decide the 20-minute wait at Beverly Wilshire coffee shop is too long; search unsuccessfully for another coffee shop; return to Beverly Wilshire and discover the wait is now 90 minutes.

* Go back to bed.

Plan B (option for the Big One):

* Stay in bed.

MIKE GRAY

Los Angeles

* As the story of our latest earthquake unfolded I couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take Assembly Speaker Willie Brown to suggest a new increase in the sales tax. What a surprise--with all that media covering the earthquake, he gets on the news with the proposal in less than 12 hours!

But I’m a little puzzled. Do we just keep adding a half percent here, a full percent there every time we have an earthquake? Should we get a committee to study how much tax increase we need to cover the various magnitude quakes? Since it’s clear the taxes will never be rescinded, do we just keep forking over income until ultimately Brown gets it all?

F. MURILLO

Rancho Santa Margarita

* After the initial shaking had stopped and I had managed to get my clothes on, I went outside into the darkness to see what was going on. There were a lot of car alarms going off but what I was most struck by was the absolute blackness of the night.

I looked up, and I was stunned: For the first time in more than 20 years I have lived in Los Angeles, I beheld a sky filled to bursting with stars--like the skies I grew up with in Lake Tahoe. There was absolutely no light pollution!

No wonder people here in L.A. are so myopic in their behavior patterns: We don’t really live within the context of a night sky full of stars.

It was awe-inspiring.

RICK SANFORD

Los Angeles

* A day of terror, a night of fear. No power, no water, no food. Sirens blare, explosions blast. Somewhere a child calls for help while you wait for your home to collapse. An earthquake in Los Angeles, to be sure, but every day in Bosnia.

Isn’t it time we helped those people?

JAY RUBIN

Tarzana