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1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at 5:04 p.m. local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately 10 mi (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of the San Andreas Fault System and was named for the nearby Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. With an Mw magnitude of 6.9[10] and a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), the shock was responsible for 63 deaths and 3,757 injuries. The Loma Prieta segment of the San Andreas Fault System had been relatively inactive since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (to the degree that it was designated a seismic gap) until two moderate foreshocks occurred in June 1988 and again in August 1989.

UTC time

1989-10-18 00:04:14

389808

ComCat

October 17, 1989 (1989-10-17)

17:04:15 PDT[1]

8–15 seconds[2]

6.9 Mw, 7.2 MS [3]

19 km (12 mi)[4]

37°02′N 121°53′W / 37.04°N 121.88°W / 37.04; -121.88[1]

Oblique-slip reverse

Central Coast (California)
San Francisco Bay Area
United States

$5.6–6 billion[1][5] (equivalent to $13.8–14.7 billion today)

MMI IX (Violent)[1]

0.65 g (at epicenter) [2]

Yes[6][7]

1,000–4,000[1][2]

5.3 ML June 27, 1988[8]
5.4 ML August 8, 1989[8]

63 killed, 3,757 injured[1][9]

Damage was heavy in Santa Cruz County and less so to the south in Monterey County, but effects extended well to the north into the San Francisco Bay Area, both on the San Francisco Peninsula and across the bay in Oakland. No surface faulting occurred, though many other ground failures and landslides were present, especially in the Summit area of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Liquefaction was also a significant issue, especially in the heavily damaged Marina District of San Francisco, but its effects were also seen in the East Bay, and near the shore of Monterey Bay, where a non-destructive tsunami was also observed.[11]


Because it happened during a national live broadcast of the 1989 World Series, the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, taking place between Bay Area teams San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, it is sometimes referred to as the "World Series earthquake", with the championship games of the year being referred to as the "Earthquake Series". Rush-hour traffic on the Bay Area freeways was lighter than normal because the game, being played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, was about to begin, and this may have prevented a larger loss of life, as several of the Bay Area's major transportation structures suffered catastrophic failures. The collapse of a section of the double-deck Nimitz Freeway in Oakland was the site of the largest number of casualties for the event, but the collapse of human-made structures and other related accidents contributed to casualties occurring in San Francisco, Los Gatos, and Santa Cruz.

, Interstate 80: The Bay Bridge was repaired and reopened to traffic in a month. However, the earthquake made it clear that the Bay Bridge, like many of California's toll bridges, required major repair or replacement for long-term viability and safety. Construction on a replacement for the eastern span began on January 29, 2002. The project was completed on September 2, 2013.[85]

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge

Cypress Street Viaduct/Nimitz Freeway, : The 1.78-mile (2.86 km) double-decked Cypress Street Viaduct, Interstate 880 was demolished soon after the earthquake and was not replaced until July 1997 (To the Bay Bridge only, the ramps to and from Interstate 80 east were not completed until 2001 despite opening in 1999). The replacement freeway section is a single-deck rather than double-deck structure and was re-routed around the outskirts of West Oakland, rather than bisecting it as the Cypress Street Viaduct had done. The former route of the Cypress Street Viaduct was reopened as the ground-level Mandela Parkway.[86]

Interstate 880

Embarcadero Freeway, : Earthquake damage forced the closure and demolition of San Francisco's incomplete and controversial Embarcadero Freeway (State Route 480). This removal opened up San Francisco's Embarcadero area to new development. The elevated structure, which ran along San Francisco's waterfront, was demolished in 1991 and later replaced with a ground-level boulevard.

State Route 480

: Seismic damage also forced the long-term closure of Interstate 280 in San Francisco (north of US 101), another concrete freeway which had never been completed to its originally planned route. The uncompleted northernmost stub of I-280 was demolished during August–October 1995[87] while one connecting ramp between northbound I-280 and southbound US 101 was opened in December 1995.[88] The full I-280 project was completed in late 1997.[89] In addition, another segment of Interstate 280 in Los Altos near State Route 85 also suffered seismic damage and was subsequently repaired.[90]

Interstate 280

, U.S. Highway 101: San Francisco's Central Freeway (part of US 101 and a key link to the Bay Bridge flyover) was another concrete double-deck structure that faced demolition because of safety concerns. Originally terminating at Franklin Street and Golden Gate Avenue near San Francisco's Civic Center, the section past Fell Street was demolished first, then later the section between Mission and Fell Streets. The section from Mission Street to Market Street was rebuilt (completed September 2005) as a single-deck elevated freeway, touching down at Market Street and feeding into Octavia Boulevard, a ground-level urban parkway carrying traffic to and from the major San Francisco traffic arterials that the old elevated freeway used to connect to directly, including Fell and Oak Streets (which serve the city's western neighborhoods) and Franklin and Gough Streets (which serve northern neighborhoods and the Golden Gate Bridge).

Central Freeway

The events in the TV sitcom episode "Aftershocks" (December 8, 1989) take place following the Loma Prieta earthquake; it centers on 7-year-old Stephanie Tanner having a hard time telling her father Danny about how she fears another aftershock might happen and kill him (since he is a widowed single father) as well as other members of the family.[105]

Full House

(1990), a made-for-TV movie that was aired on the USA Network, with stories of rescue after the disaster.

After the Shock

Miracle on Interstate 880 (1993), a TV movie fictionalization and re-enactment of events at the collapsed Cypress Structure.

(2007), TV show on NBC in which the main character travels back in time to save a person who died during the earthquake. Occurs in the third episode, "Game Three," in reference to the 1989 World Series.

Journeyman

(1990), TV show set in San Francisco in the aftermath of the earthquake. In the show, a caller jokes about Candlestick Park being renamed "Wiggly Field".

Midnight Caller

The San Francisco-based punk music group derived their name from the 1989 earthquake.

Loma Prieta

(2005), TV show on NBC in which a character uses her coincidental presence in Oakland during the earthquake as an opportunity to fake her own death and disappear. Occurs in the episode "Sweet Dreams".[106]

Medium

(2008), TV show on Fox in which a character's parents are killed in the Oakland Bay Bridge collapse, while the Observer is watching her and her parents. Occurs in the episode "August".[107] In a later episode ("Amber 31422", November 4, 2010), the alternate Walter Bishop refers to October 17, 1989, as the first time he used his amber-based protocol to heal breaches between the two universes.

Fringe

The performed the Rodney Crowell song "California Earthquake" at their concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,[108] on October 20, 1989, then again three nights later in Charlotte, North Carolina – the only times the band ever performed the song. On December 6, 1989, the band played an earthquake benefit concert at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena.

Grateful Dead

in the song "Wrecking Ball" on her Soul Journey album.[109]

Gillian Welch

The 2004 video game takes place in 1992. In it, fictional San Fierro, the game's version of San Francisco, has a few quake-damaged areas courtesy of a major shaker occurring three years before the game begins, and another earthquake being the reason the player is locked from visiting San Fierro and Las Venturas in early parts of the game. One location includes a damaged overpass resembling the collapsed Cypress Street Viaduct.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Faultline.mov – An unlisted 2022 YouTube video from Kane Pixels' creepypasta series that details the events following the earthquake. In the video, the earthquake occurs at the same time as a scientific experiment conducted by the fictional Async research institute.[110]

Backrooms

Episode 6, Season 1 of the 2022 revial of takes place during the earthquake.

Quantum Leap

The earthquake is featured in films and television shows:


Some earthquake and disaster-themed television documentaries that feature the earthquake include:

1906 San Francisco earthquake

1971 San Fernando earthquake

1994 Northridge earthquake

Earthquake engineering

List of earthquakes in California

List of earthquakes in the United States

Fuis, G. S.; Catchings, R. D.; Scheirer, D. S.; Bauer, K.; Goldman, M.; Earney, T. E.; Lin, G.; Zhang, E. (2022), "New Insights on Subsurface Geology and the San Andreas Fault at Loma Prieta, Central California", Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 112 (6): 3121–3140, :2022BuSSA.112.3121F, doi:10.1785/0120220037, ISSN 0037-1106, S2CID 252139737

Bibcode

The has a bibliography and/or authoritative data for this event.

International Seismological Centre

A film clip is available for viewing at the Internet Archive

"Loma Prieta Earthquake, ca. 1989"

.

"October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake – United States Geological Survey"

.

"The October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake – Selected Photograph – United States Geological Survey"

(PDF).

"Loma Prieta Earthquake, October 17, 1989. Preliminary Reconnaissance Report – Earthquake Engineering Research Institute"

. October 17, 1999.

"After The Fall: The earthquake shattered the Bay Area, but the cities hardest hit are now mostly rebuilt – and the scars are hidden deep below the surface – San Francisco Chronicle"

. San Francisco Chronicle. October 12, 1999.

"Out of the Rubble. Ten Years After: First in a week-long retrospective of the Loma Prieta quake"

. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved June 2, 2015.

"Photographs of the aftermath of the Loma Prieta Earthquake from the UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections"

. Live Science. October 17, 2014.

"25 Years After Loma Prieta, Earthquake Science Is Transformed – LiveScience"