Get your own Free Home Page
My father was transferred to Kodiak, Alaska in 1956 when I was just a few months old. We lived there for two years and then he was transferred back to California. My parents had liked Kodiak so much that he had put in for another tour of duty as soon as possible. We returned in 1960, when my sister was 6 months old. By this time Alaska had achieved statehood.
It was beautiful. My dad liked hunting and fishing and we loved camping. We would spend time on the 23ft boat he bought and would take trips in sea planes to the other side of the island and surrounding islands. In the winter we could play for hours on end, having snowball fights, making snowmen, forts and sledding. It really was a wonderful life until...
Good Friday, 5:30 pm, the evening meal was on the table; salmon patties and cooked cabbage (Holy day for Catholics). My mother, father, sister and I were just starting to eat. We had noticed before we even sat down that the dogs in the area seemed to be having a 'howling' good time and hoped it wouldn't last all night. A tremor began. At first we were not worried. We had been through many of them before so we just sat there planning on waiting it out. Our attempt at waiting lasted all of about 5 seconds, then things really started to move. Pictures and knick-knacks fell off walls, the goldfish bowl crashed to floor, dumping our poor little goldfish out on the carpet. The furniture was 'alive'. My father jumped up and reached for the upright freezer that was in the dining room as it started to topple towards my sister. It was full of fresh game and weighed about 700 lbs. He pushed it back towards the wall and yanked my sister out of her chair in one swift motion. It bounced off the wall and came crashing down, flattening the chair that she had just been sitting in.
We could look out the windows of our apartment and see the ground was not just shaking it was rolling. Rolling in two directions at once! As if four people, each holding a corner of a big sheet were shaking out the dust.
It was then we realized this was not just any earthquake, it was a 'bad' one. The roaring of the earth is too hard to describe. I can't even try.
My father still had my sister in his arms and was trying to get to a door frame. My mother grabbed me and we tried to run for another door frame. If you have ever been in a carnival fun house and tried to walk on the floor that is split in two with both sides moving opposite each other, you can imagine what it was like just trying walk. That is not counting the fact your knees have turned to jelly and you have a block of ice in your stomach.
After what seemed like an thirty minutes (but in reality was only four) the shaking stopped. (Originally the quake was measured at 8.6 on the Richter scale but in the 80's it was changed to a 9.2, with a 7.0 usually causing total destruction.) We were all crying and scared. Mom turned on the little portable radio that we used for camping and heard the alert, "Tidal waves approaching within thirty to forty five minutes, move to high ground now!" "All base personnel to 'Officer Hill'!" (highest point on the Navy base). Pepe', our toy poodle had hid against the wall under my parents king size bed, terrified. My mom had to crawl completely under the bed to get to him.
My dad's truck was just outside the back door stairs, we scrambled for our coats and grabbed some blankets as we went running out the door. He started driving like a crazy man for 'Officer Hill' all the while my mother saying "Hail Marys", "Our Fathers" and praying out loud that we would make it in time.
We joined the large crowd that was gathering. Dusk was begining to fall and it was getting colder. The wait was horrible. No one was sure if this was going to be a safe enough area. The waves could still be higher and more forceful than expected. By the time the first wave came in it was too dark to see anything. All you could hear was the crashing of the water and the destruction it was causing. The second wave came in and it was the very big brother of the first.
Meanwhile in the town of Kodiak itself, the people were trying to make it up the very narrow road on 'Old Woman Mountain'. Most were driving but some were on foot. Fishing trawlers were anchored in the bay, most of the crews enjoying a night on the town after getting paid for their weeks haul. Many men were already back on their boats, sleeping off an afternoon of heavy drinking. The first wave came in and pulled back out, leaving most of the boats sitting on the harbor floor. The second wave came in and swamped some, causing others to be hurled into the town like toys. The townspeople were trying to turn their cars around after the first wave and if it were not for the traffic snarl they would have been back in town for the second wave and most if not all would have surely died. A third wave came in like the first not as big as the first two but still destructive.
Back on 'Officer Hill', people were hysterical. We couldn't see anything. Maybe it was a blessing. At the time it was just horrifying. We all were waiting to die.
About an hour after the final wave, the 'all clear' signal was given and we could breath a little. No one knew the extent of the damage to homes or buildings. They did say that everybody that lived by any water would probably not be able to go home. (Our home was on the small bay that went into the base.) Power was out and it was too dangerous to drive. Roads were cracked and in some places had just fallen in. Power lines were down and water mains were broken. Since 'Officer Hill' was a housing area they started placing families with people that lived there.
Here is some irony: my father's name is Donald Lee Morgan and for months we had been having our mail getting mixed up with a Donald F. Morgan's mail. Imagine our suprise when we were billeted with his family. They had been stationed there only a few months but we had yet to meet them. If I remember correctly, our family was one of two that they took in that night. No one could sleep, we were too shaky and scared. All we could do was to try to comfort each other and wait for daylight. It made for a very long night!
In the morning we had to wait until the building our apartment was in could be inspected. Around noon we found out that we never be able to go home. Our building was a two story four-plex that was built on spaced concrete blocks, raising it to about two feet off the ground. It did not have much structural damage and no water damage as the water had only come up to the entrance threshold. However, one of two JP-5 fuel storage tanks located on the hill behind our home had ruptured during the quake causing thousands of gallons of fuel to be spilled. The first tidal wave came in with enough force to dig a depression under the building. Fuel filled the pit. The second and third waves came in and took most of the fuel with it when it left. But now the fumes were a health hazard. If the electricity had been on and a light switch flipped, we could have been blown to bits. My parents were only able to go in for about twenty minutes at a time to gather some clothes and a few toys for my sister and I. When my mom went in she discovered that the two little turtles we had in a turtle bowl were still alive inspite of having a layer of ice on top of the water. Turtles are tougher than you think. It was the first happy moment since it all began. The next couple of months two turtles, a dog and the four of us lived with other families (the goldfish didn't make it). I wish could find those families and thank them again for letting us share their homes.
In town, people were starting to look for the injured and dead. There was a fishing boat that had been placed by one of the waves next to a school, barely touching it. The motor was still running and it ran like that for days until the fuel ran out. People were too busy with emergencies to worry about it.
The following Monday was supposed to be a school holiday (Easter break) but it was decided that it would be better for the kids on the base to return to as normal a schedule as possible while the adults were organizing emergency relief and aid. The windows in the school were broken but it had been cleaned up. Door frames were off askew so some were unable to be closed and others wouldn't open. We sat at our desks with our coats, hats and mittens on, mainly because it was cold but also because we didn't know if at any moment we would have to run for it. Our school had 'earthquake drills'. Kind of like a fire drill but instead of lining up and leaving the building we crawled under our desks and covered our faces. Aftershocks were a constant reminder of what had happened. When one would hit it was like reliving the big one again. Everyone, teachers and students alike, was jumpy and usually on the verge of tears. At recess we would just huddle around each other. None of the usual playing or school yard bickering could be heard. At times like this it is not just the adults that pull together, kids do the same.
Before the earthquake hit, my father had been scheduled for transfer again so they just speeded up the process. Our household goods were packed and crated. When it came time for the crates to be loaded on the ship we had minor disaster. The quake had weakened the docks and we lost about one third of our belongings when the dock the crates were on fell into the bay. One more thing to make us feel like life was testing our endurance. Our beloved island was in shambles and now this.
The island is shaped like a toy top, point down, resting on an underwater mountain with steps. The quake caused the island to shift and drop down one step a total of five feet. This in turn made the water level rise all around the island and in the bays.
Earthquakes and tidal waves do very strange things to man made structures and natural geography. A beautiful recreation area used for picnics and bar-b-cues was destroyed. The trees had all been cut about two feet from the ground by the tidal waves. It looked as if Paul Bunyan himself had been by and with one quick swipe cleared out all the trees. The base bowling alley had just received a shipment of crated bowling balls. These were now scattered about the area as if some giants had forgotten to pick up their marbles. The base hobby/ceramic shop broke in half with almost all the ceramic figurines left on the shelves, unbroken. In town, a wharehouse built on pilings next to the bay, slowly fell into the water. Half submerged, it's inventory was still on the shelves.
In Anchorage it was even worse. We had a couple of days layover on our way back to California and were able to see some of the damage. Remember me saying how earthquakes do weird things? Well, the hospital at the time was one of the few high rise buildings in Anchorage, on two sides (touching each other) every pane of glass and outside wall was cracked. On the other two sides nothing, not one pane of glass was damaged or were there any cracks in the building. A movie theater in town had sunk one story, leaving the marque at ground level. A beautiful, brand new office building (the occupants hadn't even moved in yet) had sunk into the ground. Someone placed a handmade sign on the building saying, "We knew we were going to go into the hole, financially, with this building, we just didn't think it would be this deep!" For the first time in months our family had a good laugh. Bless the person with a great sense of humor.
We left Alaska trying to remember the good times and looking forward to having our lives return to normal. Thankfull that we all survived (accept the goldfish of course) but saddened by the loss of so many lives and so much distruction. One family of 14 lost 6 children. I can't imagine the grief they still carry.
Arriving in the San Francisco Bay area (our new home) we quickly found a place to live and as soon as our belongings came we moved in. The very first night in our new home, the Bay Area had a small earthquake. Was it ever going to end?
For years we all had nightmares and would be terrified if so much as an 18-wheeler drove by and shook the ground. It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I was able to watch the movie 'Earthquake' and not have horrible stomach pains during the movie and dreams for many nights afterwards. Now, when disasters like that happen, physcologists have realized that people are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and need counselling in order to cope with it. There wasn't any of that for us in the mid 60's or later.
By the time I reached my late thirties, I had lived in Japan for two years (they have really bad earthquakes there too) and just about every other area in this country. Experiencing tornadoes and hurricanes in Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi. The droughts and minor floods in other areas that I lived in wasn't a problem either. None of that really bothers me. Though lightening and thunderstorms do scare me a little.
I actually thought I was completely over the terror until the earthquake hit San Francisco during the '89 World Series. I was living in central Mississippi at the time. As I stood (sitting still was not possible) watching the news, I screamed at the tv, "That freeway is a double-decker!" I knew there wasn't any way the newscaster could hear me but I never will forget the tremble and sorrow in his voice when he realized what he was reporting. My boss had taken his son to California just to go to the games. I told him that there was always a possibility of an earthquake in that area but it didn't bother him. I wished him a good time when he and his son left. When they came back safe and sound he told me that he would never forget that while the earth was shaking, he kept hearing my voice say, "Please be careful and come back safe." To my knowledge he has never gone back to California. Personally, I try to stay out of the state. Just about everytime I go back, there is an earthquake. I arrived in Los Angeles about 20 hours before the Colinga earthquake hit. I said then, that I would never go back. I did.
In the summer of '90, I was participating in a National Phi Beta Lambda Competition (business organization for college students) that was being held in Southern California. It took three grown adults just to get me on the plane in Jackson, MS. Thankfully, no earhquakes this time but it did rain on the Fourth of July for the first time in one hundred years in Anahiem. Guess where I was? I don't feel like I'm a jinx or jinxed for that matter. I just seem to usually be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe I should say wrong place at a 'weird' time
For years I said I would never live on the west coast again. Never say 'never'! From September 1997 to September 1998 I lived in the North Eastern part of Washington State.
AM I CRAZY??? Mt. St. Helens is just across the state and Mt. Rainier is just a little farther! You know what they have been saying about that couple, don't you?
Special thanks to Diane M. for making me realize that by talking about this, I can maybe get over it for good.
Get your own Free Home Page