Notes from Chino Hills
5:56 PM July 29, 2008
(Chino Hills) -- Customers are scooping up bottles of cheap wine at the Trader Joe's here.
Folks are celebrating the fact that they made it through the quake here okay.
We came out here figuring that we would see some sort of damage. After all, the shaking in Hollywood was pretty severe. I was sitting at my desk when I heard the ceiling rumbling. I figured it was just the sales guys upstairs. They can be boisterous at times. But then it just kept going, and it got stronger. Then I knew what was happening.
When an earthquake hits, a TV newsroom immediately goes into "hyper" mode. I saw people sprinting around the station.
We drove like heck to get out here in Chino Hills. At the Stater Brothers, there wasn't much to see. A few bottles of olive oil fell on aisle #4. Having worked in a supermarket once, I know wet cleanups involving oil are the worst. But they took care of it quickly. The store stayed open. They never lost power. Customers kept shopping.
At the Trader Joes, a few wine bottles came crashing down. But that was about all.
Most of the real impact was psychological. One lady told me her heart was palpitating so much after the quake, she had to take medication.
Folks told me about stuff falling off shelves, water sloshing out of pools, cats freaking out, husbands going nuts, ceiling tiles falling... minor stuff, really, but enough to provide plenty of material for story-telling around the dinner table tonight.
We asked people if this was the "wake-up call" that reminds everyone to be ready for the Big One that will inevitably come someday. Some were honest and said they doubted they'd ever invest in an earthquake safety kit.
"This is California," said one man. "This sort of thing happens here."
You can say things like that after a 5.4 magnitude quake. It was just a moderate one, after all. The next time we might not be so lucky.
Posted by Eric Spillman | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)
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We watched the coverage for quite a while.
Thank goodness Bill Smith was in the air, Eric and others were on the ground talking to people, determining damage.
Although we live in a technologically advanced society, for a time, all cellphones and landlines were down. If a dam had cracked threatening flood, or a group of kids in a school bus were hanging off a collapsed bridge, if Donald Trumps' new golf course had tumbled into the ocean who could have reported those disasters but the foot or helicopter reporter.
Giving up a few hours of Jerry Springer was worth the sacrifice of discovering all was well in the south land and The Donald's empire is still solvent, tho' his hairdo remains a mystery.
Posted by: jozielee | August 01, 2008 at 08:17 AM
"I'll leave when the police get here - I know you have a job to do and so do I." -Hands down the most entertaining moment of the day!!! Eric you are awesome.
Posted by: Norm | July 31, 2008 at 12:51 PM
It was so pathetic that all the TV stations including KTLA could find nothing better to do than have their helicopters hovering over the pile of bricks in the alley in Pomona. No matter which station I turned to, there was the pile of bricks. I guess everyone was hoping something more disastrous would magically appear out of the "rubble." Today when I tuned in to KTLA, there was the pile of bricks YET AGAIN. This time it was behind an on-the-ground reporter. Would somebody please remove the damn bricks so that life in LA can go on!
BTW, I live in Yorba LInda, five miles southeast of the epicenter.
Posted by: Mary | July 30, 2008 at 09:03 PM
Great coverage? It was coverage about nothing! Every channel was reporting "Breaking News" about bottles falling off shelves or non-reinforced bricks falling. Duh! What else is going to happen?
It's just like when it rains. "This just in, a child in Newport Beach DID get wet from a rain drop, but he appears to be ok."
Minor earthquake, no big damage, no need to keep repeating incidental stuff.
Here's a line to try in your reports, "And now back to regularly scheduled programming."
Posted by: Curt | July 30, 2008 at 03:04 PM
Hey Eric!
Great Job covering the Earthquake yesterday! It was nice to have you all in our neck of the woods! (Chino Hills / Diamond Bar)
It shook us up pretty well! I was almost dumbfounded with a delayed reaction .. maybe because it jolted and then seemed to keep rumbling for what seemed like quite awhile, when in reality only seconds. I think it did shake us up mentally more than physically. It seemed to be bigger than a 5.4, and definitely the biggest we Southern California residents have experienced in years.
My Mom ran into you at the Trader Joes in Chino Hills and gave you some discount cards to our Susie's Deals $5.99 family clothing stores, I hope that you and your co-workers enjoy them!
Please tell the entire Morning News Crew Hello From Me .. I'm a big fan and have been watching since I was a child ... 27 years old now! :o)
Thanks again for the great coverage and keep up the good work!
Posted by: Mindy H. | July 30, 2008 at 01:34 PM
While I know a lot of folks must make that call to an elderly parent, child or other loved one, it does create gridlock on the system.
Think of the freeway system - once you get lots of traffic on there, I'm sure you see what happens. Yes, our telecommunications can be upgraded. However, I suspect each company would end up charging more(after all, they are businesses).
I did hear that texting(or e-mailing)uses less bandwidth, and might get a quicker result. Some of my texts did reach my contacts and I did send an e-mail message.
Posted by: Anita | July 30, 2008 at 11:26 AM
What an amazing ride! Woohoo!! How lucky that no one was hurt.
Great coverage, KTLA news team. Y'all even sent Stan Chambers into the field. Way to go!
Posted by: jozielee | July 29, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Yes lindalou I echo you on that about Bill. Now if they'd just bring Willa back!
Posted by: Dan | July 29, 2008 at 08:28 PM
It was nice to hear Bill Smith out and about commenting on the earthquake.
Thanks KTLA for not showing him the door yet.
Posted by: lindalou | July 29, 2008 at 07:37 PM
Same thing with Verizon today for more than one hour post-equake. How in the world can we contact people that we must contact (such as elderly parents) if the dang cellphones and landlines won't work?? Either no dial tone, busy circuits, or the call just wouldn't go through. I couldn't even text because they don't have that and don't know how it works anyway.
Posted by: Donna | July 29, 2008 at 07:10 PM
Eric, I have Sprint Cell Phone Service and I wasn't able to make calls for over an hour. I've heard various stories from the Cell Towers shut down so that emergency personnel are able to communicate to a Verizon customer not able to call for about 5 minutes after the quake hit.
What do they expect people to do who are out and about and have an elderly parent at home with a heart condition and you're not able to make a call?
Do you know if the towers are shut down for cell phone subscribers or was this something Sprint is responsible for? You'd think in this day and age of DIGITAL communications everyone would be able to get through in an emergency!
Posted by: Dan | July 29, 2008 at 06:51 PM