October 16, 2019 • 32 mins
Thirty years ago, the 1989 World Series was struck with tragedy. The question that everyone has in their minds is, "When will it happen again?"
Tune in to this episode of Untimely Podcast.
=======
Follow us on Twitter @UntimelyPodcast
Music: "Humbled in a Battle" by Antti Luode (http://anttismusic.blogspot.com)
Audio clip: https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.951729 (CC 1.0 Universal)
Tune in to this episode of Untimely Podcast.
=======
Follow us on Twitter @UntimelyPodcast
Music: "Humbled in a Battle" by Antti Luode (http://anttismusic.blogspot.com)
Audio clip: https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.951729 (CC 1.0 Universal)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello listeners, this is your hostLynn. I would like to thank you
all for tuning in after our longhiatus. I definitely missed working on this
podcast and sharing stories with you sincewe started in March of this year.
Now that we are back and hopefullybetter than ever, I would like to
ask three things from each and everyone of you. First, please take
(00:23):
a few seconds after listening to today'sepisode to subscribe. By subscribing to the
podcast, you won't miss any newepisodes or announcements. Second, please take
a few seconds more to rate andreview the podcast. This will help us
hear your feedback and improve to bringyou the best stories, and to be
honest, I do love reading reviews. And finally, please share this podcast,
(00:48):
especially to your friends and family.Let them know about the podcast and
encourage them to listen and give usa try. In return, I'd love
to send you some Untimely merchandise.Let us know when you have done all
three things. First, subscribe tothe podcast, Second, rate and review
on your podcast platform, and thenthird share with your friends and family.
(01:11):
Then send us an email at Untimelypodcast at gmail dot com or hit us
up on our DM on Twitter atUntimely podcast, include your shirt size and
mailing address, and soon you'll receiveyour untimely merchandise in the mail. It's
a small gesture to thank you foryour support again, thank you for tuning
in and supporting the podcast. Now, without further ado, let's get on
(01:36):
with the show. Buck was aburly man who was loved by many alongshoreman
by trade, he worked tirelessly toprovide for his kids, all four of
them. Although he worked at theport of Oakland called Weaverville, a small
(02:00):
town about a four hour drive northhis home, Buck drove the two hundred
and fifty six miles or four hundredtwelve kilometers distance every weekend to spend time
with his family. While during thework week, Buck stayed in Oakland sleeping
in a yellow custom band decorated withthe words the Weaverville Flash on its exterior.
(02:23):
Despite the long drive and unconventional sleepingarrangement, Buck never complained, not
even once. On a warm Tuesdayevening, Buck was driving his silver Chevrolet
Sprint on the lower deck of theCypress Freeway. He noticed that today there
was very little traffic on the road. As he made his way out of
(02:44):
the lower deck, he heard somethingI something he has never heard before.
It was a low, rumbling soundcoming from above. Buck glanced on his
rear view mirror and thought maybe hisvision was getting blurry. He then real
lies that the mirror was shaking andthe car was shaking, and that odd
(03:04):
noise started to get louder and louder. As the shaking became more violent and
the unearthly noise overpowered his surroundings,Buck gripped his steering wheel and braced himself
for what would be one of themost agonizing days of his life. You
(03:30):
are listening to Untimely, a podcastabout untimely deaths in earlier or recent history
that left damages in its wake.I am your host, Lynn. The
state of California boasts of beautiful coastlines, fantastic scenery, and scary earthquakes.
(03:51):
As I record this podcast, wejust had a four point two magnitude earthquake
happened early this morning. Californians areall is mindful of the active fault lines
that shape this diverse state. Inthis episode of Untimely, weill retell the
story of one of Northern California's majorearthquakes and how it affects all of us
(04:11):
living here today. For those ofyou who are not familiar with the landscape
of the state of California, youcan basically divide the third largest state in
(04:33):
the United States into two hemispheres,Northern California and Southern California. This actual
imaginary line between the two can bemarked somewhere in Fresno, which is considered
Central California. Major cities in thesouthern part include Los Angeles and San Diego,
while in the northern part are SanFrancisco and Sacramento. But from the
(04:56):
edge of the state of Oregon downto the Mexico border, they're numerous areas
that you can visit. One ofthese areas is the Bay Area, which
triangulates San Francisco, Oakland, andSan Jose. The bay in the name
Bay Area is for the San FranciscoBay, which meets the Pacific Ocean somewhere
under the Golden gate Bridge. Ifyou travel a bit southwest, there is
(05:17):
another cluster of world renowned cities.Santa Cruz is known for its kick ass
surfing, Monterey for its amazing aquarium, and Carmel by the Sea for its
charming downtown. In vicinity to PebbleBeach, golf Club. In the late
eighties, there were about six millionpeople living in the Bay Area. Aside
(05:40):
from the picturesque Golden Gate Bridge,there are at least four other bridges bringing
the cities together, including the BayBridge. The Bay Bridge connects Oakland and
San Francisco. Now, if you'rea fan of the Golden State Warriors,
this is the bridge depicted in theirlogo. Several highways connect all of the
area's counties, including the scenic CaliforniaHighway one and State Route one oh one.
(06:05):
There is no doubt that the BayArea has always been one of the
best places to live, with itseclectic sights and sounds, combined with its
diverse population that brought the best outof the world. But something happens that
will forever change the way lives arenow lived and how people view the Bay
Area. It was October of nineteeneighty nine, an exciting time in the
(06:30):
Bay Area as both baseball teams arevying for the championship in the nineteen eighty
nine World Series. Technically, thiswas the fourth time that the Giants and
the Athletics met in the World Series, but in the three previous times,
the Giants were in New York andthe Athletics were in Philadelphia. This time,
(06:50):
the two ball clubs were both inthe Bay Area, across the bridge
from one another. As you couldimagine, everyone was incredibly enthusiastic. Fans
of the San Francisco Giants and theOakland Athletics were engaged in what was called
Battle of the Bay, an epicseries of baseball fund and competition. Here's
(07:13):
a little sports fact for those whowant to know more about baseball. The
World Series is set for seven games. Whichever ball club wins four takes the
pennant. The two teams had towin against all the other ball clubs in
their respective leagues to get to wherethey are the World Series championships and in
this case, bragging rights for eitherthe city of Oakland or San Francisco.
(07:36):
The first two games will be playedin Oakland, Games three, four,
and five, if needed, willbe held in San Francisco, and the
rest back again in Oakland. Gameone was held on the afternoon of Saturday,
October fourteenth, in Game two onSunday, October fifteenth, and in
both games the Oakland A's won.Every thing was set for Game three to
(08:01):
be played on Tuesday, October seventeenth. This time games three and four will
be held at Candlestick Park. Thisvenue is located south of downtown San Francisco
on the east side, in anarea called Bayview Heights. The Giants shared
this arena with another ball club,the San Francisco forty nine Ers. The
(08:24):
Stick, as locals call it,can accommodate sixty two thousand baseball fans,
and in October seventeenth, the thirdgame of the series, the entire stadium
was sold out. Since the gamewas scheduled to start later in the afternoon,
most fans either took the day offand planned to be in the ballpark
or stayed home, while some leftearly for work to catch the start of
(08:48):
the game. Families invited others towatch the game in their living rooms.
Hospitals, police, and fire stationsall had their TVs tuned into the local
channel, waiting for the game tostart. As it got closer to game
time, the city was still abuzz and in a positive note, traffic
was not as bad as it wouldhave been any other day. The Goodyear
(09:11):
Blip was floating above the city.The weather was unseasonably warm, even though
it was fall, but the babiescooled the air. Although the World Series
was on top of mind, itwas still business as usual everywhere in the
Marina District. You Mom Carol wastending to her three month old baby boy,
(09:33):
as most mothers would attest to.Days like these were so precious.
Carol felt so very blessed, andfor some it was a family re union
of sorts. Anna Mafi Moala wasnear the San Francisco International Airport to pick
up her brother Lysista. He wascoming back home to Oakland from Australia.
Ana Mafi, a nurse's aid,took time off from her shift that day
(09:56):
to pick up her brother. Whileon the Oakland side, Kathy begrudgingly rode
in the backseat of her mom's car. They were on their way to her
dentist appointment. In the car washer mom's friend at the passenger seat,
and beside Kathy was her brother Julio. She side as their car drove under
the lower deck of the Cypress Freeway. This freeway is a double decker with
(10:18):
four lanes each deck and connected theBay Bridge side of Oakland. Back in
San Francisco, approximately sixty two thousandfans rallied inside a stick as always A
safety video was played on the bigscreen to inform everyone inside the stadium about
forming orderly lines and exits, aswell as evacuation protocols in case of an
(10:41):
emergency. Meanwhile, sports announcers AlMichaels and Tim mcgarber were inside the broadcasting
booth going through the information they needfor the live show, looking through player
rosters, names of umpires, gamestatistics, and gameplay. The cameramen were
(11:01):
performing their final adjustments all over theballpark. Whole the media was settling down
for what they would hope to bea good game. In the sweets.
Mary Steinbach was with the other familymembers of Oakland Athletics players and staff.
Mary was a Minnesota native, butfor now she called Alameda as home.
(11:22):
That day, she was at theballpark to support her husband, Terry,
a catcher for the Oakland As thoughshe was there to cheer for her husband,
her thoughts were back in Alameda,thinking of their two year old who
was at home with a sitter.It's almost game time. Around five minutes
before five pm local time, theAmerican Broadcasting Corporation or ABC was showing highlights
(11:46):
from the previous two games. AlMichaels and Tim McCarver talked about the exciting
game and memorable plays. The gamewas set to start at five thirty five
pm. In twenty seven years,a World Series game will be played in
Candlestick parked the Battle of the Bayin second base open. It was five
(12:26):
o four pm when a seven pointone magnitude earthquake struck the Bay Area.
Fans inside the stadium hustled to safety. You can hear screams of terror and
gasps of fear, as though quakelasted for fifteen seconds. The broadcasters in
the booth held onto anything they canwhile outside the world seemed to sway back
(12:50):
and forth in slow motion. Radiotransmissions were knocked out. All city,
county, state, and federal emergenceservices were immediately mobilized, but because transmissions
were limited, there was confusion onwhat channels to listen to or hear orders
from. Plus electricity was also knockedout in several areas, leaving one million
(13:13):
households and businesses without power. Despitethese challenges, firefighters, city police,
county sheriffs, even the Coast Guardwent unread alert. Airports, all three
major ones in the area were immediatelyclosed. Helicopters from various state and federal
(13:35):
forces were seen all over, eachone with a mission of saving lives in
danger transporting them to trauma hospitals thatwould take them. The Bay area was
incomplete and utter chaos. The intensityof the earthquake caused a seventy six by
fifty foot section or twenty three metersby fifteen meters of the upper deck platform
(13:58):
to break across the road and falldown the lower deck. It cost a
huge gap. Police and emergency crewstried to reroute traffic from crossing to the
Oakland side because of the gap onthe road. Many of the vehicles were
motioned to go back to San Francisco, but one of these vehicles were given
the wrong information. At forty milesper hour, the car drove straight into
(14:22):
the gap and crashed. The driverwas twenty three year old Anna Mafi Moala,
and beside her was her brother Lisista. For a moment after the crash,
Lisista tried to wake his sister byshaking her shoulders and calling out her
name. Anna Mafi slowly opened hereyes and said something gingerly, but Anna
(14:43):
Mafi did not survive and left Lisistacritically injured. Her last word to Lisista
was John, the name of herson. While Lisista was eventually rescued,
Anna Mafi's death is the only fatalityon the bridge. Fortunately, everywhere else
the number of deaths increased. Rubbleand brick from the buildings in the surrounding
(15:07):
areas fell down the streets piece bypiece and made worse by the aftershocks.
In downtown Santa Cruz, seventy threemiles south of San Francisco, over thirty
buildings collapsed and killed people instantly.Around the Marina District and several neighborhoods in
San Francisco, fire broke out becauseof down power lines. At least seven
(15:31):
buildings collapsed. The Marina District's foundationwas made from a landfill of sand,
rubble, waste, and other materials. Its vicinity to the bay made the
underlying surface filled with groundwater. Theearthquake caused the groundwater and materials to interact
and suffered a phenomenon called liquifaction.Basically, liquifaction is when partially saturated soil
(15:56):
behaves like a liquid and softens whenstress is applied, and in this case,
stress is the violent shaking from theearthquake. The soil then loses its
strength and produces cracks on the groundor sinks a portion of the surface,
and in one Marina District household,the destabilized foundation knocked down walls and trap
(16:17):
people underneath, including Carol and herbaby. Despite her best efforts to protect
her child, the little one diedfrom his injuries. Inside the stadium,
many of the players and their familymembers headed down to the field away from
any falling debris or chaos. Atthat moment, the game of baseball did
(16:41):
not matter. What mattered was everyone'ssafety and the welfare of their families.
Though there was no video feed,Al Michaels and Tim mcgarver continue to broadcast
from the stick outside. The ESPNNews van was the only one that had
a generator, which allowed Chris BurmanBob Lay to continue their live coverage.
(17:03):
News helicopters hovered around the Bay Areaas well, showing the devastation from the
earthquake. The violent quake caused thesouth portions of the upper deck of the
Cypress Freeway to succumb to the shakingand collapse down the lower deck. The
damage crushed many vehicles underneath. Men, women and children were trapped inside miles
(17:29):
away a team of medical professionals loadedup in a station wagon elbow to elbow,
each of them carrying medical equipment.The group headed towards the Cypress Freeway.
Doctor James Betts was one of thesemedical professionals. Their vehicle went past
evacuated buildings with people all around seemedto be scattered everywhere, all in the
(17:52):
days of what just happened. Asthe vehicle approached the collapsed freeway, and
his other crew members couldn't believe oreven make out what was going on and
what they saw the confusing perspective ofa once towering double decker road obliterated into
one heap of concrete, steel,and rubble. Vehicles were faced in almost
(18:17):
every direction, steel rods exposed inthe air, and the smell of gasoline
and burnt rubber emanated everywhere. Fireengines held up ladders against the concrete mess,
trying to find a way to rescueanyone trapped and bring them down.
Doctor Betts climbed up one of theladders to take a look at what he
(18:37):
was called to help with. Insideone of the cars, partially smashed by
the tons of concrete above, wasa young boy slumped in the backseat.
He was alive with barely a whimper, but unconscious and unable to communicate.
Two female adults were in the frontseats, but none were alive. Earlier,
(19:00):
there was another young girl in thesame backseat with injuries but not as
bad as the young boys. Thegirl, who will be later known as
the boy's sister, was transported tothe hospital, but the boy, who
was in much worse shape, cannotbe moved. His lower body was wedged
underneath and his right leg was pinneddown. Doctor Betts, with the others,
(19:22):
tried to find a way to freethe boy from the vehicle, but
soon he realized that the only wayto save the boy is to amputate the
right leg. With only a tinyarea to perform this life saving surgery,
doctor Betts had to do the surgeryright then and there. He was not
going to give up that easily.Armed with whatever tools he had, and
(19:45):
with the help of emergency crews andhis other team members, they amputated the
right leg, working on saving theboy's life for hours. Fortunately, the
emergency surgery was a success, andthe boy, whose name was Julio,
was taken to the hospital for furthercare and reunited with his sister Kathy.
(20:06):
It was one of the success storiesof this devastating day. Finally, those
who were at the stick slowly madetheir way home. In some cases it
took almost four hours to get homeand what would have been a thirty minute
ride. The Steinbach, who foundeach other after the earthquake, was in
(20:26):
a state of worry the entire timethey were making their way home. There
was no way for them to knowhow their toddler and their babysitter was doing.
Of course, every possible scenario ranthrough Mary's head. What if they
were trapped, What if they werebrought to the hospital, how would they
know where, what if they wereinjured or worse. All Terry could say
(20:48):
to her was it's going to beall right. Once they got to their
driveway, Mary almost fell out ofthe car running towards the house. When
she opened the door, she wasprize and relieved as her baby and their
sitter were both waiting for them unharmed. Mary will thank her lucky stars forever.
(21:11):
As the sun went down, thecity was lit with small fires and
police lights. At this point,the entire nation and most of the world
have heard of the wreckage and damagedcaused by the earthquake. Many of the
new stations were back on the air, mostly reporting on site in and around
the city to show the world whathad happened. The news kept everyone informed
(21:33):
of what was going on. Bymidnight, some parts of San Francisco had
power back on, while the restslowly came back overnight, and when the
next day broke, every person inthe entire Bay area knew that for them,
the world will never be the same. Official reports state that the earthquake
(21:55):
on October seventeenth, nineteen eighty nine, had a magnitude of seven point one
on the Richter scale and severely damagedthe San Andreas Fault and other fault lines
in the area. The epicenter ofthe quake was sixty miles southeast of San
Francisco, in an area called LomaPrieta, which is how the quake is
now currently known. It was reportedthat the quake was felt as far south
(22:19):
as Los Angeles and as far northas Oregon. The Loma Prieta earthquake damaged
twelve thousand homes and twenty six hundredbusinesses, while some structures were devastated.
All in all, the death tollwas fifty seven deaths, with an additional
six following days and weeks later,and four thousand were reported injured all over
(22:44):
the Bay Area. Most services andutilities came back the next day, including
the major airports. Even with ahigh death toll, many firmly believed that
it could have been much, muchworse if not for the World Series.
If it were an ordinary afternoon,the traffic would be at its peak,
with thousands of people on the roadsand on the bridges, But because many
(23:10):
stayed home or left early to catchthe game, the amount of traffic and
people out was immensely low in number. In the following days after the earthquake,
the people of the Bay Area triedto recover from the devastation. City
and National Railroad trains were back running, and other public transportation slowly began to
(23:32):
get back to schedule. Law enforcement, both state and federal began cleaning up
the streets, using heavy equipment toremove boulders, concrete, and abandoned vehicles
affected by the quake. City engineersand planners visited cracked pavements and streets,
going over the plans to build onceagain and get back to normal. By
(23:56):
the coast, landslides prevented access tomajor roads, including the famous Highway One.
Then President George H. Bush releaseda one point one billion earthquake relief
to the state of California to helprebuild and recover. At that time,
this was the most expensive natural disasterin the history of the United States,
(24:19):
with an estimated six billion in damages. Although this earthquake will be forever time
to San Francisco, the worst ofit and most deaths occurred in Oakland on
the Cyprus Freeway. Around forty twolives were lost on the freeway. Volunteers
and city workers worked NonStop to recoverand remove the heaps of twisted metal trapped
(24:44):
in the middle of the freeway stecks. On the fourth day after the quake,
one of the workers heard a faintsound coming from one of the trapped
cars. He yeld at others tocome help clear the rubble away from the
vehicle. Once cleared, they sawa silver Chevrolet sprint crushed underneath the concrete.
(25:04):
Inside was a man, clearly alivedespite being trapped for over ninety hours.
The man was rescued and was stubbedas Lucky Buck from Weaverville, California,
and he was immediately brought to thenearest hospital to be treated. Lucky
Buck was put on life supporting equipmentand was given the best of care.
(25:26):
But even after his rescue, Buckwas unable to hold on, and after
twenty nine days in the hospital,he died of respiratory failure. The Loma
Prieta earthquake not only changed lives,but also changed the traffic landscape. After
a month, the Bay Bridge wascleaned up and repaired, then opened to
(25:48):
the public. However, it wasclear that many of the major roads and
bridges in the Bay area were inbad shape and in need of retro fitting
and additional safety measures against natural disasterssuch as an earthquake. In two thousand
and two, a new eastern spanof the Bay Bridge started construction. This
project was not completed until twenty thirteen. On the Oakland side, the Cypress
(26:15):
Freeways devastation led to a renewed thoughtaround roads and double decker highways. In
nineteen ninety seven, a single deckhighway was built to replace the freeway.
Instead, a ground devil parkway nowcalled Mandela Parkway, served as the new
major traffic artery in Oakland. BayFerries used to be a thing of the
(26:37):
past, but the earthquake brought thisform of transportation back to ensure that the
people have other ways to get towhere they need to be while the roads
were being repaired. The popularity andease of the ferries were highly sought by
the public and to this day remainsa source of transportation for many. Everywhere
(26:57):
else, city, federal, state, and private structures all went through comprehensive
assessments and retrofitting to ensure that suchdevastation never happens again. Even the world
famous Golden Gate Bridge, though unharmedby the Loma Prieta, went through exhaustive
testing and reinforcements. The new StanfordChildren's Hospital was built with earthquake safety in
(27:19):
mind. Underneath its foundation are baseisolators, which are steel plates with a
ball bearing suspension in between that allowsthe columns to move or shake at least
three feet in any direction. Theseplates gives the building a chance so with
standing earthquake up to eight point zeroon the Richter scale. Utilities are also
(27:40):
planned in parallel to the possible tremors. Electricity, gas, and water connections
can slide side to side without breaking. Many other buildings follow this form of
earthquake safety precaution. The California IntegratedSeismic Network or CISN, was formed from
several earthquake monitoring networks which combined studiesand data. Although scientists and seismologists are
(28:06):
still unable to predict large scale quakes, their studies help local and federal agencies
prepare for earthquakes, similar to theLoma Prieta, with standardized planning and guidelines
and critical state of readiness in bothpublic and private sectors. In two thousand
and nine, the United States GeologicalSurvey founded the Bay Area Earthquake Alliance,
(28:30):
composed of public and private companies thatfollow earthquake preparedness throughout the Bay Area.
Every year, the Bay Area EarthquakeAlliance co sponsors the Great California Shakeout Earthquake
Preparedness Exercise, held on the thirdThursday of October Nearly ten million Californians,
including myself, participate in this importantexercise. Ten days after the earthquake spike
(29:00):
controversies, Game three of the WorldSeries was played at Candlestick Park. Then
Commissioner Fay Vincent made the decision tocontinue the games, even though many called
for the cancelation of the series oreven relocating the game to another city,
but Vincent's decision to go on waswhat the Bay Area needed at that time,
(29:21):
something they can control and welcome backin their lives the game of baseball.
In a heartwarming pregame ceremony, firefighters, police officers, and emergency responders
were honored and recognized for their heroismin bravery. The end of Game three
was the Oakland Athletics winning over theSan Francisco Giants with a score of thirteen
(29:42):
to seven. It was a recordraking game at that time, with the
most combined home runs in a WorldSeries game. The next day, Game
four was played at the Stick againwith the Athletics winning. With their win,
they closed out the World Series bywinning with a sweep of four and
o. Game four of the nineteeneighty nine Battle of the Bay would be
(30:04):
the last time that a World Seriesgame was played at Candlestick Park. The
new home of the San Francisco Giantsis now the Oracle Park, a little
bit north of Candlestick. October seventeen, twenty nineteen, marks the thirtieth anniversary
of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Manyof the people who were here in nineteen
(30:27):
eighty nine still recall that moment likeit was yesterday. Memories of that fatal
day can be seen and felt aroundthe area. For example, if you
happen to stop by Ripley's Believe itor not. In San Francisco, Lucky
Bucks silver Chevrolet Sprint is currently onexhibit. But most importantly, everyone here
(30:48):
in the Bay area knows that theBig One is coming. As we walked
along the streets of San Francisco,drive across the Bay Bridge, or watch
a game in our house. It'scoming and it's not a matter of if,
but it's a question of when,and hopefully we'll all be ready.
(31:21):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Untimely. I would love to know
what you think about this episode.Send us a note an Untimely podcast at
gmail dot com. Also, aswe remember the thirtieth anniversary of the Loma
Creator earthquake, I would also liketo say Happy Birthday to my father,
Manny, who was in San Franciscoat that time. I'm glad to say
(31:44):
that he now celebrates his seventy secondbirthday. Happy birthday, Pops. I'm
also happy to announce that we willsoon have more social media coverage, including
Instagram and Facebook while we wait forthose two sides to get ready, don't
forget to follow us on Twitter.Stop by say hi. We'd love to
hear from you. M
Hello listeners, this is your hostLynn. I would like to thank you
all for tuning in after our longhiatus. I definitely missed working on this
podcast and sharing stories with you sincewe started in March of this year.
Now that we are back and hopefullybetter than ever, I would like to
ask three things from each and everyone of you. First, please take
(00:23):
a few seconds after listening to today'sepisode to subscribe. By subscribing to the
podcast, you won't miss any newepisodes or announcements. Second, please take
a few seconds more to rate andreview the podcast. This will help us
hear your feedback and improve to bringyou the best stories, and to be
honest, I do love reading reviews. And finally, please share this podcast,
(00:48):
especially to your friends and family.Let them know about the podcast and
encourage them to listen and give usa try. In return, I'd love
to send you some Untimely merchandise.Let us know when you have done all
three things. First, subscribe tothe podcast, Second, rate and review
on your podcast platform, and thenthird share with your friends and family.
(01:11):
Then send us an email at Untimelypodcast at gmail dot com or hit us
up on our DM on Twitter atUntimely podcast, include your shirt size and
mailing address, and soon you'll receiveyour untimely merchandise in the mail. It's
a small gesture to thank you foryour support again, thank you for tuning
in and supporting the podcast. Now, without further ado, let's get on
(01:36):
with the show. Buck was aburly man who was loved by many alongshoreman
by trade, he worked tirelessly toprovide for his kids, all four of
them. Although he worked at theport of Oakland called Weaverville, a small
(02:00):
town about a four hour drive northhis home, Buck drove the two hundred
and fifty six miles or four hundredtwelve kilometers distance every weekend to spend time
with his family. While during thework week, Buck stayed in Oakland sleeping
in a yellow custom band decorated withthe words the Weaverville Flash on its exterior.
(02:23):
Despite the long drive and unconventional sleepingarrangement, Buck never complained, not
even once. On a warm Tuesdayevening, Buck was driving his silver Chevrolet
Sprint on the lower deck of theCypress Freeway. He noticed that today there
was very little traffic on the road. As he made his way out of
(02:44):
the lower deck, he heard somethingI something he has never heard before.
It was a low, rumbling soundcoming from above. Buck glanced on his
rear view mirror and thought maybe hisvision was getting blurry. He then real
lies that the mirror was shaking andthe car was shaking, and that odd
(03:04):
noise started to get louder and louder. As the shaking became more violent and
the unearthly noise overpowered his surroundings,Buck gripped his steering wheel and braced himself
for what would be one of themost agonizing days of his life. You
(03:30):
are listening to Untimely, a podcastabout untimely deaths in earlier or recent history
that left damages in its wake.I am your host, Lynn. The
state of California boasts of beautiful coastlines, fantastic scenery, and scary earthquakes.
(03:51):
As I record this podcast, wejust had a four point two magnitude earthquake
happened early this morning. Californians areall is mindful of the active fault lines
that shape this diverse state. Inthis episode of Untimely, weill retell the
story of one of Northern California's majorearthquakes and how it affects all of us
(04:11):
living here today. For those ofyou who are not familiar with the landscape
of the state of California, youcan basically divide the third largest state in
(04:33):
the United States into two hemispheres,Northern California and Southern California. This actual
imaginary line between the two can bemarked somewhere in Fresno, which is considered
Central California. Major cities in thesouthern part include Los Angeles and San Diego,
while in the northern part are SanFrancisco and Sacramento. But from the
(04:56):
edge of the state of Oregon downto the Mexico border, they're numerous areas
that you can visit. One ofthese areas is the Bay Area, which
triangulates San Francisco, Oakland, andSan Jose. The bay in the name
Bay Area is for the San FranciscoBay, which meets the Pacific Ocean somewhere
under the Golden gate Bridge. Ifyou travel a bit southwest, there is
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another cluster of world renowned cities.Santa Cruz is known for its kick ass
surfing, Monterey for its amazing aquarium, and Carmel by the Sea for its
charming downtown. In vicinity to PebbleBeach, golf Club. In the late
eighties, there were about six millionpeople living in the Bay Area. Aside
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from the picturesque Golden Gate Bridge,there are at least four other bridges bringing
the cities together, including the BayBridge. The Bay Bridge connects Oakland and
San Francisco. Now, if you'rea fan of the Golden State Warriors,
this is the bridge depicted in theirlogo. Several highways connect all of the
area's counties, including the scenic CaliforniaHighway one and State Route one oh one.
(06:05):
There is no doubt that the BayArea has always been one of the
best places to live, with itseclectic sights and sounds, combined with its
diverse population that brought the best outof the world. But something happens that
will forever change the way lives arenow lived and how people view the Bay
Area. It was October of nineteeneighty nine, an exciting time in the
(06:30):
Bay Area as both baseball teams arevying for the championship in the nineteen eighty
nine World Series. Technically, thiswas the fourth time that the Giants and
the Athletics met in the World Series, but in the three previous times,
the Giants were in New York andthe Athletics were in Philadelphia. This time,
(06:50):
the two ball clubs were both inthe Bay Area, across the bridge
from one another. As you couldimagine, everyone was incredibly enthusiastic. Fans
of the San Francisco Giants and theOakland Athletics were engaged in what was called
Battle of the Bay, an epicseries of baseball fund and competition. Here's
(07:13):
a little sports fact for those whowant to know more about baseball. The
World Series is set for seven games. Whichever ball club wins four takes the
pennant. The two teams had towin against all the other ball clubs in
their respective leagues to get to wherethey are the World Series championships and in
this case, bragging rights for eitherthe city of Oakland or San Francisco.
(07:36):
The first two games will be playedin Oakland, Games three, four,
and five, if needed, willbe held in San Francisco, and the
rest back again in Oakland. Gameone was held on the afternoon of Saturday,
October fourteenth, in Game two onSunday, October fifteenth, and in
both games the Oakland A's won.Every thing was set for Game three to
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be played on Tuesday, October seventeenth. This time games three and four will
be held at Candlestick Park. Thisvenue is located south of downtown San Francisco
on the east side, in anarea called Bayview Heights. The Giants shared
this arena with another ball club,the San Francisco forty nine Ers. The
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Stick, as locals call it,can accommodate sixty two thousand baseball fans,
and in October seventeenth, the thirdgame of the series, the entire stadium
was sold out. Since the gamewas scheduled to start later in the afternoon,
most fans either took the day offand planned to be in the ballpark
or stayed home, while some leftearly for work to catch the start of
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the game. Families invited others towatch the game in their living rooms.
Hospitals, police, and fire stationsall had their TVs tuned into the local
channel, waiting for the game tostart. As it got closer to game
time, the city was still abuzz and in a positive note, traffic
was not as bad as it wouldhave been any other day. The Goodyear
(09:11):
Blip was floating above the city.The weather was unseasonably warm, even though
it was fall, but the babiescooled the air. Although the World Series
was on top of mind, itwas still business as usual everywhere in the
Marina District. You Mom Carol wastending to her three month old baby boy,
(09:33):
as most mothers would attest to.Days like these were so precious.
Carol felt so very blessed, andfor some it was a family re union
of sorts. Anna Mafi Moala wasnear the San Francisco International Airport to pick
up her brother Lysista. He wascoming back home to Oakland from Australia.
Ana Mafi, a nurse's aid,took time off from her shift that day
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to pick up her brother. Whileon the Oakland side, Kathy begrudgingly rode
in the backseat of her mom's car. They were on their way to her
dentist appointment. In the car washer mom's friend at the passenger seat,
and beside Kathy was her brother Julio. She side as their car drove under
the lower deck of the Cypress Freeway. This freeway is a double decker with
(10:18):
four lanes each deck and connected theBay Bridge side of Oakland. Back in
San Francisco, approximately sixty two thousandfans rallied inside a stick as always A
safety video was played on the bigscreen to inform everyone inside the stadium about
forming orderly lines and exits, aswell as evacuation protocols in case of an
(10:41):
emergency. Meanwhile, sports announcers AlMichaels and Tim mcgarber were inside the broadcasting
booth going through the information they needfor the live show, looking through player
rosters, names of umpires, gamestatistics, and gameplay. The cameramen were
(11:01):
performing their final adjustments all over theballpark. Whole the media was settling down
for what they would hope to bea good game. In the sweets.
Mary Steinbach was with the other familymembers of Oakland Athletics players and staff.
Mary was a Minnesota native, butfor now she called Alameda as home.
(11:22):
That day, she was at theballpark to support her husband, Terry,
a catcher for the Oakland As thoughshe was there to cheer for her husband,
her thoughts were back in Alameda,thinking of their two year old who
was at home with a sitter.It's almost game time. Around five minutes
before five pm local time, theAmerican Broadcasting Corporation or ABC was showing highlights
(11:46):
from the previous two games. AlMichaels and Tim McCarver talked about the exciting
game and memorable plays. The gamewas set to start at five thirty five
pm. In twenty seven years,a World Series game will be played in
Candlestick parked the Battle of the Bayin second base open. It was five
(12:26):
o four pm when a seven pointone magnitude earthquake struck the Bay Area.
Fans inside the stadium hustled to safety. You can hear screams of terror and
gasps of fear, as though quakelasted for fifteen seconds. The broadcasters in
the booth held onto anything they canwhile outside the world seemed to sway back
(12:50):
and forth in slow motion. Radiotransmissions were knocked out. All city,
county, state, and federal emergenceservices were immediately mobilized, but because transmissions
were limited, there was confusion onwhat channels to listen to or hear orders
from. Plus electricity was also knockedout in several areas, leaving one million
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households and businesses without power. Despitethese challenges, firefighters, city police,
county sheriffs, even the Coast Guardwent unread alert. Airports, all three
major ones in the area were immediatelyclosed. Helicopters from various state and federal
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forces were seen all over, eachone with a mission of saving lives in
danger transporting them to trauma hospitals thatwould take them. The Bay area was
incomplete and utter chaos. The intensityof the earthquake caused a seventy six by
fifty foot section or twenty three metersby fifteen meters of the upper deck platform
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to break across the road and falldown the lower deck. It cost a
huge gap. Police and emergency crewstried to reroute traffic from crossing to the
Oakland side because of the gap onthe road. Many of the vehicles were
motioned to go back to San Francisco, but one of these vehicles were given
the wrong information. At forty milesper hour, the car drove straight into
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the gap and crashed. The driverwas twenty three year old Anna Mafi Moala,
and beside her was her brother Lisista. For a moment after the crash,
Lisista tried to wake his sister byshaking her shoulders and calling out her
name. Anna Mafi slowly opened hereyes and said something gingerly, but Anna
(14:43):
Mafi did not survive and left Lisistacritically injured. Her last word to Lisista
was John, the name of herson. While Lisista was eventually rescued,
Anna Mafi's death is the only fatalityon the bridge. Fortunately, everywhere else
the number of deaths increased. Rubbleand brick from the buildings in the surrounding
(15:07):
areas fell down the streets piece bypiece and made worse by the aftershocks.
In downtown Santa Cruz, seventy threemiles south of San Francisco, over thirty
buildings collapsed and killed people instantly.Around the Marina District and several neighborhoods in
San Francisco, fire broke out becauseof down power lines. At least seven
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buildings collapsed. The Marina District's foundationwas made from a landfill of sand,
rubble, waste, and other materials. Its vicinity to the bay made the
underlying surface filled with groundwater. Theearthquake caused the groundwater and materials to interact
and suffered a phenomenon called liquifaction.Basically, liquifaction is when partially saturated soil
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behaves like a liquid and softens whenstress is applied, and in this case,
stress is the violent shaking from theearthquake. The soil then loses its
strength and produces cracks on the groundor sinks a portion of the surface,
and in one Marina District household,the destabilized foundation knocked down walls and trap
(16:17):
people underneath, including Carol and herbaby. Despite her best efforts to protect
her child, the little one diedfrom his injuries. Inside the stadium,
many of the players and their familymembers headed down to the field away from
any falling debris or chaos. Atthat moment, the game of baseball did
(16:41):
not matter. What mattered was everyone'ssafety and the welfare of their families.
Though there was no video feed,Al Michaels and Tim mcgarver continue to broadcast
from the stick outside. The ESPNNews van was the only one that had
a generator, which allowed Chris BurmanBob Lay to continue their live coverage.
(17:03):
News helicopters hovered around the Bay Areaas well, showing the devastation from the
earthquake. The violent quake caused thesouth portions of the upper deck of the
Cypress Freeway to succumb to the shakingand collapse down the lower deck. The
damage crushed many vehicles underneath. Men, women and children were trapped inside miles
(17:29):
away a team of medical professionals loadedup in a station wagon elbow to elbow,
each of them carrying medical equipment.The group headed towards the Cypress Freeway.
Doctor James Betts was one of thesemedical professionals. Their vehicle went past
evacuated buildings with people all around seemedto be scattered everywhere, all in the
(17:52):
days of what just happened. Asthe vehicle approached the collapsed freeway, and
his other crew members couldn't believe oreven make out what was going on and
what they saw the confusing perspective ofa once towering double decker road obliterated into
one heap of concrete, steel,and rubble. Vehicles were faced in almost
(18:17):
every direction, steel rods exposed inthe air, and the smell of gasoline
and burnt rubber emanated everywhere. Fireengines held up ladders against the concrete mess,
trying to find a way to rescueanyone trapped and bring them down.
Doctor Betts climbed up one of theladders to take a look at what he
(18:37):
was called to help with. Insideone of the cars, partially smashed by
the tons of concrete above, wasa young boy slumped in the backseat.
He was alive with barely a whimper, but unconscious and unable to communicate.
Two female adults were in the frontseats, but none were alive. Earlier,
(19:00):
there was another young girl in thesame backseat with injuries but not as
bad as the young boys. Thegirl, who will be later known as
the boy's sister, was transported tothe hospital, but the boy, who
was in much worse shape, cannotbe moved. His lower body was wedged
underneath and his right leg was pinneddown. Doctor Betts, with the others,
(19:22):
tried to find a way to freethe boy from the vehicle, but
soon he realized that the only wayto save the boy is to amputate the
right leg. With only a tinyarea to perform this life saving surgery,
doctor Betts had to do the surgeryright then and there. He was not
going to give up that easily.Armed with whatever tools he had, and
(19:45):
with the help of emergency crews andhis other team members, they amputated the
right leg, working on saving theboy's life for hours. Fortunately, the
emergency surgery was a success, andthe boy, whose name was Julio,
was taken to the hospital for furthercare and reunited with his sister Kathy.
(20:06):
It was one of the success storiesof this devastating day. Finally, those
who were at the stick slowly madetheir way home. In some cases it
took almost four hours to get homeand what would have been a thirty minute
ride. The Steinbach, who foundeach other after the earthquake, was in
(20:26):
a state of worry the entire timethey were making their way home. There
was no way for them to knowhow their toddler and their babysitter was doing.
Of course, every possible scenario ranthrough Mary's head. What if they
were trapped, What if they werebrought to the hospital, how would they
know where, what if they wereinjured or worse. All Terry could say
(20:48):
to her was it's going to beall right. Once they got to their
driveway, Mary almost fell out ofthe car running towards the house. When
she opened the door, she wasprize and relieved as her baby and their
sitter were both waiting for them unharmed. Mary will thank her lucky stars forever.
(21:11):
As the sun went down, thecity was lit with small fires and
police lights. At this point,the entire nation and most of the world
have heard of the wreckage and damagedcaused by the earthquake. Many of the
new stations were back on the air, mostly reporting on site in and around
the city to show the world whathad happened. The news kept everyone informed
(21:33):
of what was going on. Bymidnight, some parts of San Francisco had
power back on, while the restslowly came back overnight, and when the
next day broke, every person inthe entire Bay area knew that for them,
the world will never be the same. Official reports state that the earthquake
(21:55):
on October seventeenth, nineteen eighty nine, had a magnitude of seven point one
on the Richter scale and severely damagedthe San Andreas Fault and other fault lines
in the area. The epicenter ofthe quake was sixty miles southeast of San
Francisco, in an area called LomaPrieta, which is how the quake is
now currently known. It was reportedthat the quake was felt as far south
(22:19):
as Los Angeles and as far northas Oregon. The Loma Prieta earthquake damaged
twelve thousand homes and twenty six hundredbusinesses, while some structures were devastated.
All in all, the death tollwas fifty seven deaths, with an additional
six following days and weeks later,and four thousand were reported injured all over
(22:44):
the Bay Area. Most services andutilities came back the next day, including
the major airports. Even with ahigh death toll, many firmly believed that
it could have been much, muchworse if not for the World Series.
If it were an ordinary afternoon,the traffic would be at its peak,
with thousands of people on the roadsand on the bridges, But because many
(23:10):
stayed home or left early to catchthe game, the amount of traffic and
people out was immensely low in number. In the following days after the earthquake,
the people of the Bay Area triedto recover from the devastation. City
and National Railroad trains were back running, and other public transportation slowly began to
(23:32):
get back to schedule. Law enforcement, both state and federal began cleaning up
the streets, using heavy equipment toremove boulders, concrete, and abandoned vehicles
affected by the quake. City engineersand planners visited cracked pavements and streets,
going over the plans to build onceagain and get back to normal. By
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the coast, landslides prevented access tomajor roads, including the famous Highway One.
Then President George H. Bush releaseda one point one billion earthquake relief
to the state of California to helprebuild and recover. At that time,
this was the most expensive natural disasterin the history of the United States,
(24:19):
with an estimated six billion in damages. Although this earthquake will be forever time
to San Francisco, the worst ofit and most deaths occurred in Oakland on
the Cyprus Freeway. Around forty twolives were lost on the freeway. Volunteers
and city workers worked NonStop to recoverand remove the heaps of twisted metal trapped
(24:44):
in the middle of the freeway stecks. On the fourth day after the quake,
one of the workers heard a faintsound coming from one of the trapped
cars. He yeld at others tocome help clear the rubble away from the
vehicle. Once cleared, they sawa silver Chevrolet sprint crushed underneath the concrete.
(25:04):
Inside was a man, clearly alivedespite being trapped for over ninety hours.
The man was rescued and was stubbedas Lucky Buck from Weaverville, California,
and he was immediately brought to thenearest hospital to be treated. Lucky
Buck was put on life supporting equipmentand was given the best of care.
(25:26):
But even after his rescue, Buckwas unable to hold on, and after
twenty nine days in the hospital,he died of respiratory failure. The Loma
Prieta earthquake not only changed lives,but also changed the traffic landscape. After
a month, the Bay Bridge wascleaned up and repaired, then opened to
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the public. However, it wasclear that many of the major roads and
bridges in the Bay area were inbad shape and in need of retro fitting
and additional safety measures against natural disasterssuch as an earthquake. In two thousand
and two, a new eastern spanof the Bay Bridge started construction. This
project was not completed until twenty thirteen. On the Oakland side, the Cypress
(26:15):
Freeways devastation led to a renewed thoughtaround roads and double decker highways. In
nineteen ninety seven, a single deckhighway was built to replace the freeway.
Instead, a ground devil parkway nowcalled Mandela Parkway, served as the new
major traffic artery in Oakland. BayFerries used to be a thing of the
(26:37):
past, but the earthquake brought thisform of transportation back to ensure that the
people have other ways to get towhere they need to be while the roads
were being repaired. The popularity andease of the ferries were highly sought by
the public and to this day remainsa source of transportation for many. Everywhere
(26:57):
else, city, federal, state, and private structures all went through comprehensive
assessments and retrofitting to ensure that suchdevastation never happens again. Even the world
famous Golden Gate Bridge, though unharmedby the Loma Prieta, went through exhaustive
testing and reinforcements. The new StanfordChildren's Hospital was built with earthquake safety in
(27:19):
mind. Underneath its foundation are baseisolators, which are steel plates with a
ball bearing suspension in between that allowsthe columns to move or shake at least
three feet in any direction. Theseplates gives the building a chance so with
standing earthquake up to eight point zeroon the Richter scale. Utilities are also
(27:40):
planned in parallel to the possible tremors. Electricity, gas, and water connections
can slide side to side without breaking. Many other buildings follow this form of
earthquake safety precaution. The California IntegratedSeismic Network or CISN, was formed from
several earthquake monitoring networks which combined studiesand data. Although scientists and seismologists are
(28:06):
still unable to predict large scale quakes, their studies help local and federal agencies
prepare for earthquakes, similar to theLoma Prieta, with standardized planning and guidelines
and critical state of readiness in bothpublic and private sectors. In two thousand
and nine, the United States GeologicalSurvey founded the Bay Area Earthquake Alliance,
(28:30):
composed of public and private companies thatfollow earthquake preparedness throughout the Bay Area.
Every year, the Bay Area EarthquakeAlliance co sponsors the Great California Shakeout Earthquake
Preparedness Exercise, held on the thirdThursday of October Nearly ten million Californians,
including myself, participate in this importantexercise. Ten days after the earthquake spike
(29:00):
controversies, Game three of the WorldSeries was played at Candlestick Park. Then
Commissioner Fay Vincent made the decision tocontinue the games, even though many called
for the cancelation of the series oreven relocating the game to another city,
but Vincent's decision to go on waswhat the Bay Area needed at that time,
(29:21):
something they can control and welcome backin their lives the game of baseball.
In a heartwarming pregame ceremony, firefighters, police officers, and emergency responders
were honored and recognized for their heroismin bravery. The end of Game three
was the Oakland Athletics winning over theSan Francisco Giants with a score of thirteen
(29:42):
to seven. It was a recordraking game at that time, with the
most combined home runs in a WorldSeries game. The next day, Game
four was played at the Stick againwith the Athletics winning. With their win,
they closed out the World Series bywinning with a sweep of four and
o. Game four of the nineteeneighty nine Battle of the Bay would be
(30:04):
the last time that a World Seriesgame was played at Candlestick Park. The
new home of the San Francisco Giantsis now the Oracle Park, a little
bit north of Candlestick. October seventeen, twenty nineteen, marks the thirtieth anniversary
of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Manyof the people who were here in nineteen
(30:27):
eighty nine still recall that moment likeit was yesterday. Memories of that fatal
day can be seen and felt aroundthe area. For example, if you
happen to stop by Ripley's Believe itor not. In San Francisco, Lucky
Bucks silver Chevrolet Sprint is currently onexhibit. But most importantly, everyone here
(30:48):
in the Bay area knows that theBig One is coming. As we walked
along the streets of San Francisco,drive across the Bay Bridge, or watch
a game in our house. It'scoming and it's not a matter of if,
but it's a question of when,and hopefully we'll all be ready.
(31:21):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Untimely. I would love to know
what you think about this episode.Send us a note an Untimely podcast at
gmail dot com. Also, aswe remember the thirtieth anniversary of the Loma
Creator earthquake, I would also liketo say Happy Birthday to my father,
Manny, who was in San Franciscoat that time. I'm glad to say
(31:44):
that he now celebrates his seventy secondbirthday. Happy birthday, Pops. I'm
also happy to announce that we willsoon have more social media coverage, including
Instagram and Facebook while we wait forthose two sides to get ready, don't
forget to follow us on Twitter.Stop by say hi. We'd love to
hear from you. M
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