Here is a real traffic jam (courtesy of KRON).
On January 17, 1994, Northridge, California, in the San Fernando Valley should have awoken to a peaceful Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Instead, residents were thrown out of their beds at 4:31 A.M. with a feeling that the world was coming to an end.
The earthquake
measured 6.6 on the Richter scale. It was not even the big one.
But to the inhabitants of
Northridge in the quake's epicenter, it felt like the big one. This
devastating event left "more than 50
dead, 5,900 injured, 20,000 homeless, at least six major freeways buckled,
countless businesses closed
and workers idle" (Roberts 26).
Statistics alone cannot tell the story of
the earthquake. The real
story comes from the unselfish acts performed in the aftermath of this
obliterating event. Each individual
helped others in the community while the community pulled together to help
those individuals in greatest
need. President Clinton phrased it well by saying, "The first line of
defense was the spirit that the people
of Los Angeles brought to this tragedy" ("Remarks" 283).
As an individual effort, Sharon S. Mori
contacted the Salvation
Army only days after the earthquake and organized a two-week
Earthquake
Victims Food and
Non-Perishable Items Drive. "Diapers, baby food, clothing, blankets, and
more than 1,200 pounds of
canned goods were donated by credit union employees and members"
(Hanke 41).
Not only did the Northridge community pull
together, but the entire
nation became a support system ready to help.
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Return home.