FA shot during the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake (Loma Prieta)

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 21:56:20 GMT

I had just started shooting an FA before the 1989 Loma Prieta (San Francisco) Earthquake hit at 5:04 pm (working OT as usual! haha!) on October 17. All FA images prior to the shaking were excellent, except for the last image I captured which was at the moment it hit us at 36.4 seconds post injection. I said to the patient "OK, please stop moving Mr. _____." When the books on the shelf fell over seconds later I realized we were in an earthquake and stopped the FA. Total earthquake time was about 15 seconds and the damage was extensive with part of the Bay Bridge collapsing and trapping people, homes knocked off their foundations, a fire in the Marina District, etc. Game 3 of the World Series was just minutes away from starting when the quake hit. The SF Giants were on the field at Candlestick Park getting ready to play the Oakland A's. See the attached FA negatives and the SF Examiner Front Page from the following day.

Mon, 1 Jul 2019 05:57:42 GMT

Oh Man! What a great? maybe fascinating memory, Mike! I had a memory that was not that dramatic, but certainly sad..... I was doing an angiogram when the Challenger blew up. A colleague ran excitedly up to the camera room door to tell me why people were agitated out in the hallway, but before he could say anything, I asked him to wait just a moment until the transit phase was over. We finished the study per the usual protocol, but both the patient and I had to wipe our tears several times before we were done.

Mon, 8 Jul 2019 13:23:52 GMT

Mine's not as exciting. In 1988 I was working for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance in Milwaukee as a darkroom tech and was using 2 enlargers and putting the prints in a Kreonite print processor. While making one print I felt the something on the 7 floor of the building and I didn't give it a second thought. I then proceeded to make another print on the other enlarger. When the first print came out it was blurry and I could have sworn that it was sharp in the grain scope. While checking my focus an announcement came over the radio that the city experienced a 1.9 earthquake. I still have the photo somewhere in my archives. I'll see if I can find it.
On another note I found an 8x10 negative of the Edmond Fitzgerald. Northwestern Mutual was the insurer of the vessel. Of course I make a contact print of that too.

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 04:03:44 GMT

On 9/11 when I heard that a second aircraft had hit the other WTC tower, I turned to my nurse who was doing injections and said "You know Pat, we are at war". Pat replied "Oh John do you think so?" It was unfathomable for her.

We didn't have a television in our waiting room. I set up a radio. So many of our patients who had heard the reports of Pearl Harbor on a radio were hearing about this new "Pearl Harbor", on a radio.

My office was just a couple of miles off the east end of one of O'Hare's busiest runways. Getting a chance to walk outside at 11:30am there was the most ominous quiet. Not a plane in sight at a place where with a casual scan one would typically see at least a dozen aircraft.