Los Angeles Times Special Quake Report: One Year Later : Still Shaken / Voices : From the Epicenter to D.C.: Reflections on the Devastation : ROGER CAMPBELL

Five minutes after the Jan. 17 earthquake, Fillmore City Councilman Roger Campbell was on his way to the fire station, where he serves as assistant fire chief. His turn-of-the-century home was demolished, and much of Fillmore was hit hard. A year later, he sees a new beginning.

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I think our lives are getting back to normal. And I think we are doing a pretty good job of moving forward. We had a real big family celebration on Christmas, and we started to put some new memories into our home.

I’m really proud of this community and the way it has pulled together in the face of this disaster. I never had any doubt that Fillmore would pull itself up again. Maybe it’s a love of the town that makes me say that, or maybe it’s knowing the people in this community. These people have pioneer stock blood in them and a resolve to make things better. That can’t be shaken by an earthquake.

I woke up to my wife screaming. And my daughter was yelling, and my son was yelling at her to stay in bed. Finally I was yelling at everyone to stay in bed and hang on. It was the longest 30 seconds I’ve ever had. It was just a horrific noise. The noise was as frightening as having a house fall down around you. I was convinced from the instant I was awake that this was what everyone calls “the big one.” It was a horrifically strong earthquake, and I’ve lived here all my life and have felt strong earthquakes.

When the FEMA office opened I was in line first thing in the morning. That was the first day I felt better, not because I came away with any money, but because I knew there was a way to get money to put my life back in order.

The day our house was demolished was really hard. It was a rainy day and there were lots of people there, lots of family and friends. I loved that house. That house held up under tremendous force. That house saved us. But I knew it had to be done, it just wasn’t safe.

By that time we had picked the house we wanted to have built. It was 118 days from the time of the earthquake that we moved into our new house. Frankly, it still feels strange. The first night there, I woke up in the middle of the night and I was completely disoriented. But the next morning I went out to the sidewalk, picked up the newspaper and sat down on the porch. That felt right.

And the house across the street was in the right place, and that felt good. It doesn’t quite feel the same, but our life is getting back to normal. It’s like the beginning again.