CALIFORNIA: Let Her Shake

Like most of Southern California, the flat San Joaquin Valley city of Bakersfield (pop. 35,000) had been trembling with minor settling shocks ever since the earthquake of July 21, which centered in the nearby Tehachapi Mountains (TIME, July 28). One afternoon last week, while the air was hot and still, Bakersfield heard the familiar, low-pitched rumble, this time louder than ever. Floors, sidewalks, streets and front yards gave an extra hard jolt and a twist. In the downtown areas, timbers and masonry crashed down and plate-glass windows shattered.

Earthquake-wise Bakersfield reacted without panic. In the California Theater for example 13-year-old Bob Shaffer herded a flock of youngsters out of the matinee so calmly that they were hardly jostled. Ambulances and police rescue squads began rolling as soon as the earth stopped shuddering. They found the downtown business section of Bakersfield hardest hit, but counted a remarkably light toll of two dead (from falling roofs) and 32 hurt. Property damage was estimated upwards from $20 million, adding to the $40 million caused by last month’s quake and subsequent settling shocks.

By nightfall the excitement had subsided and the city’s drive-in theaters were doing a rushing business. Carpenters boarded up broken windows and police roped off the worst hit blocks. By 9 p.m. the area was deserted except for occasional pedestrians trying to get through the barricades. One drunk shouted at a patrol car: “When are you gonna let me through? I’ve walked 18 blocks and I’m no closer to home than when I started.” Said a cop: “You’ve been walking through saloons.” Retorted the drunk: “You think that’s easy?”

Seismologists at Pasadena’s California Institute of Technology rated the Bakersfield quake at Intensity 6 (on the Richter scale of 10) as compared with 7.5 for the shake last month. They figured that both quakes originated along the Garlock fault, a major fracture in the earth’s structure paralleling the Tehachapi range. The flat motion in both quakes indicated that both resulted from a slight horizontal slipping of the fault, instead of a vertical slippage.

At 3:10 a.m. next day, the Los Angeles area, 100 miles south of Bakersfield, shuddered again. Rating: 4.5, with no damage. But some seismologists thought this quake was another fault heard from, traced it to the granddaddy of all California fault lines, the San Andreas fault. CalTech warned that Southern California could look forward to minor settling shocks for at least a year. Most natives reacted much like the owner of a Bakersfield camera store. He hung a sign in his store window on which he had written his home telephone number and the challenge: “Let Her Shake.”