Memories mark year at epicenter
Residents recall quake with a mix of fear and grief
By Phillip Carter
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
A year after their lives were shaken by the Northridge
earthquake, residents now living at the epicenter of the 6.8 shock
expressed mixed feelings  ranging from fear to grief Âon
the one-year anniversary of the traumatic event.
One man who lived near the epicenter in the northern part of the
San Fernando Valley recounted in vivid detail the quake, which he
said is burned into his memory forever.
"All of a sudden, it was like God punted my house, because I was
tossed out of bed onto the floor," Northridge resident Jason
Trimble, 61, said. Located near the intersection of DeSoto and
Devonshire, Trimble’s house is less than a mile from where the
quake was centered.
"The motion of the quake wasn’t side to side like a normal quake
 it was up and down, diagonal, and vibrating," he recalled.
"Then, I heard a bunch of explosions, which I later found out were
some trailers in Granada Hills and the gaslines near my house."
Another Northridge resident recalled the quake similarly,
especially the explosions. Kelly Friedel, 44, said it sounded like
a war outside when the gas tanks exploded.
"It went ‘bang, bang, bang,’ really quickly, almost like a
cannon  then all of a sudden there was this giant flash
across the sky," he said. "I woke up thinking I was dreaming of
being back in the service, but then I felt the shaking."
Friedel said that he had luckily just gotten back from a ski
trip for the Martin Luther King Day holiday, and hadn’t unpacked
yet. "I grabbed my dirty clothes’ duffel bag, and ran out the door
with my wife who grabbed hers."
Unlike Friedel and Trimble, not everyone affected by the quake
lived in the area. One of the most heavily affected groups of
people were  and are  California State University at
Northridge students whose school was nearly leveled by last year’s
earthquake. CSUN students, such as Peter Chen, 19, offered praise
for the university’s quick reaction to the quake and rebuilding of
temporary quarters.
"I was amazed at how fast (the administration) got school back
into session, with of all the damage," said Chen, a second-year
political science student, jokingly adding, "I still couldn’t get a
parking permit though, because almost all the structures fell to
the ground."
Other students concurred, and one went so far to say that the
temporary trailer classrooms were better than the existing
classrooms, especially the temporary science labs.
"I’m starting my third semester of chemistry in a brand-new lab,
that we got because the federal government paid for trailers for us
to put new science labs in," third-year biochemistry student Laval
Parker said. "(CSUN President) Blenda Wilson’s done a great job,
and I give her props for taking care of us here."
CSUN students had to travel for several months here to UCLA to
use the library, because their library was one of the Jan. 17
quake’s casualties. "A lot of the special things like microfilms
are in storage, so we can’t get them in time to write papers," Chen
said.
Chen and others particularly praised the CSUN faculty, for
holding classes in temporary quarters that sometimes didn’t even
have a roof. He added that his academic record will also be marked
by the earthquake.
"My counselor told me that my transcripts will have a note on
them that says class was disrupted because of a 6.7 earthquake
 I wonder what law schools will think of that."
Another student who started at CSUN this year said the quake was
frightening because he had just applied to the campus’s accounting
program.
"I had a full-scholarship to come here at the time, and I was
just starting my last semester of high school," first-year
accounting student Carlos Lazo said. "I’m just glad that the school
was still standing, because I was worried that my application would
be lost or something."
CSUN wasn’t the only major location hit by the quake  the
Northridge Fashion Plaza collapsed during the temblor, injuring
only a few custodial workers who were working early that
morning.
One store employee said that experiencing a big quake made her
ready for the next one  now she’s made her house
"quake-proof."
"I went crazy after the quake with fasteners and chains, and now
everything in my house from the television to the bookshelf is tied
down," said Sara Borden, 31, who is assistant manager of the
Limited. "But even so, there’s this part of my mind that’s always
saying: ‘Get out of Los Angeles.’"
Across the street, an employee at Tower Records said she still
has little reminders around her of what happened a year ago.
"My apartment building was fixed up, but the doors still don’t
shut right," Lizzie Gonzalez, 22, of North Hills said. "There’s a
little place on the wall in our (Tower Records’) storage room where
we have the pictures of when the building collapsed."
Northridge resident Trimble said he gained valuable skills from
the quake’s aftermath, when he had to file emergency-grant
applications with the federal government.
"It’s going to be a hell of a lot easier to file my taxes after
the quake  because after dealing with FEMA, I’m not the least
bit afraid of the IRS."