Welcome to the Loma Prieta Earthquake AUDIO Roundup Page

 

Below are four audio files that I recorded just after the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Hear damage reports being called into the W6ASH (SPECS) Ham Repeater's Net Control station.
Hear the excitement and fear as aftershocks happen during the net.
Excuse the open microphone, it's all I could do at the time. You will need an MP3
player to hear them. Most current operating systems come with a player that can decode MP3 files.
If you have an older OS, you may need to get a player.I recommend Sound Jam and WinAMP,
but there are many others out there.

I also have the files in Real Audio format. They are smaller in size and the quality is much lower.

All are free clients.

-MAC- Sound Jam can be found here.
(Click on the " Get SoundJam MP Free" link)


-PC- WinAMP can be found here.

 

-MAC/PC- Real Audio can be found here
(This one is harder to find, as they would rather you buy it from them.
Go to the bottom of the main page and select "Free Downloads". On the next page,
find the gray bar in the center of the page. It should have a link to the
free "RealPlayer Basic" software).
(This path may change at if they update their web page)

 

-MAC/PC- Other players will decode the MP3 format, like Apple's QuickTime4
but the MacAMP & WinAMP seem to have the best audio quality for their size.

Here are some of my post event notes.
I started the tape about 10 minutes after the main event. Seconds before I
pushed record, we had a Mag 5x aftershock. If you listen closely, you can
hear my neighbor's alarm sounding in the background. There were several
more aftershocks that happened during the taping. One knocked my phone
off the hook. You can hear the alert beeps. One aftershock interrupted the net
due to net control having to leave the Sunnyvale Fire Station he was in. I pulled
out my generator at dusk and we had the whole neighborhood at our house
watching the news. We were without PG&E Power for 3 days after the event!
The night of the quake around 11:00pm, I was called to open a Red Cross
Shelter at the Senior Center in Mountain View. I checked people in all night,
but in the morning the city condemned the building due to damage. We moved
the shelter to the Rengstorff Park Recreation Center where I finished my shift.


Hope you enjoy the audio files, '73 Eric N6OIM

Click here to download the audio files in MP3 format.

loma1.mp3 1,164k
loma2.mp3 1,580k
loma3.mp3 1,459k
loma4.mp3 1,018k

Click here to download the audio files in Real Audio format.

Please Note: Real Audio (RM) files no longer available. When I created this page back in 1999, MP3's were not yet a standard, but this is no longer the case..

loma1.rm 370k
loma2.rm 505k
loma3.rm 508k
loma4.rm 457k

Note, this site does not have a Real Audio Server running.
Just download the .rm files, and drag them into your RealPlayer.
Also note if you your running Win95 or Win98 and are having trouble
getting the RA files to play, you may need to upgrade your Real Audio client.
The OEM Real Audio client that comes with Win 95 & 98 is an older Ver.
and may need to be replaced from the link above.


If you have or know of anyone that has audio recordings relating to the
'89 quake, please consider putting them on the WEB. If you need help
digitizing then or need a place to host them, just ask. I'd be happy to help.

To view curent and past earthquake data. Please visit the USGS Quake WEB Site.

Or visit the Northern California Earthquake Data Center at UCB.

 

Below are various links that are related to the Loma Prieta Quake. Many have excellent
photos of the of the damage it caused.

Photo CD format digital images of the October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake

 

This is a real clean site from Stanford. It's title is:
The San Andreas Fault and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Check it out. It's a good one! Go to the bottom of this page to see
some more cool links, including more audio files from the state OES.


Here's a nice site done by the University of Delaware Department
of Civil & Environmental Engineering. It's titled Loma Prieta

 

How about an Earthquake FAQ

 

Visit TheTech as they feature Earthquakes, Things to Learn About.

 

See what's Shaking in Parkfield Ca.

Check out this Panorama showing Loma Prieta Epicenter in the Forest of
Nisene Marks State Park located in the Santa Cruz Area. Also see some of the other
excellent work that Erik Goetze has created. You could spend hours viewing his
over 700+ panoramic photos. Note Apple's QuickTime3 or 4 is requited for viewing
the panoramic images. Get QuickTime 4 here


Back to EarthquakeAdvisor.Com

Back to Ham Radio Online

Back to the W6ASH (SPECS) Ham Repeater

Back to Eric Tofsrud's home page




 

Maintained by Eric Tofsrud - N6OIM n6oim@mac.com
First created 23-May-1999
Last modified 01-Apr-2008