Quake Jumbled Lives in 1971

Twenty-five years ago this morning, the Los Angeles area’s most devastating earthquake since 1933 struck in the mountains north of the San Fernando Valley, killing 64 people, injuring 2,543 and causing $553 million in damage.

What is frequently called the Sylmar-San Fernando earthquake, but is known to scientists as simply the San Fernando earthquake, is now assessed at magnitude 6.7--identical to the strength of the 1994 Northridge quake.

But because its epicenter was in a sparsely populated area of the San Gabriel Mountains, its severe damage zone was not as large as that of the Northridge temblor.

The most memorable single episode of the Feb. 9, 1971, earthquake was the near-collapse of the lower dam at the Van Norman Reservoir. As emergency pumps lowered its water level by three feet a day, 80,000 residents of the northern Valley were evacuated for three days. A major aftershock, which scientists feared would cause a final collapse, never materialized, however.

The largest casualty toll in the quake--47 of the deaths--occurred at the San Fernando Veterans Administration Hospital, where two major wings collapsed. Three died in a collapse at the then-new Olive View Hospital.

Four freeways--the Golden State, Antelope Valley, San Diego and Foothill--were partially closed when 12 overpass bridges fell into freeway lanes.