San Francisco Bay Area earthquake 31 years later: A look back

Las Vegas Review-Journal

4 years ago

Workers check the damage to Interstate 880 in Oakland, Ca. on Thursday, Oct. 19, 1989. The fre ... — Workers check the damage to Interstate 880 in Oakland, Ca. on Thursday, Oct. 19, 1989. The freeway collapsed Tuesday as a major earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, hit the Bay area. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

A burned out vehicle lies at the base of a broken column that once supported two decks of the Cypress freeway, Oct. 18, 1989, Oakland, Calif. This is what remained after an earthquake rattled through Northern California creating havoc and death. (AP Photo/Stuart Brinn)

Repairs continue at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, October 22, 1989 as workmen patch the concrete stairs in preparation for the resumption of the World Series Friday. (AP Photo/John Mabanglo)

A bulldozer brings down a damaged apartment complex in the Marina district of San Francisco, Ca., as people watch from the roof of another building, Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 18, 1989. The Marina district was devastated by the 6.9 earthquake that rocked the San Francisco Bay area tuesday. (AP Photo/John Swart)

Rescue dogs are brought into position to begin searches of destroyed houses in the Marine District of San Francisco, Ca., Wednesday morning after a strong earthquake caused widespread damage, Oct. 18, 1989. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

A crane lifts a worker as crews continue to clean up and search through twisted wreckage of the Cypress section of the Interstate 880 freeway in Oakland, Ca., on Thursday, Oct. 19, 1989. Over 250 persons have lost their lives in the earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale that shook Northern California Oct. 17. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Heavy equipment cranes and backhoes probe and lift debris from the crushed Interstate 880 freeway in Oakland, Ca. on Friday, Oct. 20, 1989. The Bay area was hit with a 7.1 earthquake on Tuesday, causing the two-level freeway to collapse. Over 250 persons were killed. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

A crane mounted on a barge, left, has been towed into position, ready to lift a section of the collapsed San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 21, 1989. Repair of the structure, which collapsed during the earthquake days earlier, is estimated by transportation officials to take from three to eight weeks . (AP Photo/Jack Smith)

Workcrew continue to cleanup on a damaged section of Interstate 880 in Oakland, Ca. on Sunday, Oct. 22, 1989. Part of the Nimitz Freeway, I-880, collapsed when an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter struck on Oct. 17. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Vendor Nicole Verment of Spokane, Wash., was doing a brisk business on Hegenberger Rd. near the Oakland Coliseum with this T-shirt: I Survived The Great Quake, Thursday, Oct. 19, 1989, Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Jack Smith)

A bridge worker checks bolt hole alignment and readies to attach a support fro I-beams that will span the gaping hole created in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge October 17 by a 7.1 earthquake that shut the bridge down until at least Thanksgiving, Nov. 3, 1989, Oakland, Calif. I-beams will support the road bed. Meanwhile, other bridge updating, roadbed repair and span painting, was going ahead full-scale. In background is the suspension span of the bridge which is tied to Yerba Buena Island. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)

Jim Vallas, Cal Trans residents engineer, right, discusses progress of repair on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Friday, Nov. 3, 1989, Oakland, Calif. This section was dislodged in the October 17 earthquake. Some supports for I-beams that will span the break are in place and can be seen on both decks at T-s. Steel I-beams have been delivered to the site. San Francisco Bay and Angel Island can be seen in the break. The other workers are unidentified. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)

A construction crew works at marking repairs to an elevated and exposed house on a hill, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 1990, Watsonville, Calif. Of the 3,200 Watsonville homes damaged in the October 17 earthquake, about one-third are being repaired. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

This aerial view is the last standing section of the nearby-demolished Cypress section of the I-800 Nimitz freeway, Jan. 11, 1990, Oakland, Calif. Three months after the October 17 earthquake, the freeway on which 42 people lost their lives, is nearly gone. The standing section has been used for seismic testing and will be gone by months end. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

On Oct. 17, 1989, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 67 people.

It was the most powerful earthquake to rattle California since the deadly 8.3 quake of 1906 that killed more than 3,000 and leveled much of San Francisco.

That quake lasted up to 60 seconds, according to news accounts. The 1989 quake lasted only 10 to 15 but caused more than $5 billion in damage.

The quake struck at 5:04 p.m. during rush-hour traffic and as the nation was settling in to watch Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and cross-bay rival Oakland Athletics.

Former Review-Journal columnists Royce Feour and Norm Clarke were at Candlestick Park that night and shared memories of what happened.

According to the California Department of Conservation, “the epicenter was on the San Andreas fault roughly 56 miles south of San Francisco and 10 miles northeast of Santa Cruz, near Mt. Loma Prieta in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The earthquake was felt as far away as western Nevada.

Now, more than 30 years later, the earthquake is just a footnote in history as the anniversary passed this weekend with nary a remembrance of the physical and psychological toll it took on the Bay Area.