The Paso Robles Earthquake, December 22, 2003

Fortunately, my younger brother and his teen-aged son were in town for Mom's birthday and the Christmas holidays. I had talked Mom into trying out a senior residence not far from her home in Paso Robles for a three-month period, but she came back home for my brother's visit so they could all spend more time together. That meant an apartment was empty temporarily for me to sleep in and have breakfast while I was getting my room back together.

The day after the earthquake my brother and my younger nephew came and helped me clear a path to my bedroom / office. This involved picking up the fallen books and then getting the bookcases upright again. This was especially difficult because I store books on hold on top of the shelves. Some of these fell behind, and these had to be retrieved before the bookcases would stand up again.

Meanwhile, out at the pump house, there was some damage to the plumbing that needed to be fixed immediately. The same kind friend who broke into my bedroom to let me in also fixed that damage so we'd continue to have water. We were able to eat most of our meals with the extended family at Mom's house, and I still had a few days after Christmas to work at home by day and take advantage of Mom's apartment at night. It's interesting that at Mom's she barely felt the quake and she had no damage at all. We were only seven miles apart. The senior residence was about a mile farther east, and there was no damage there, either.

It took a while for FEMA to come assess the damage, and it was determined we didn't have enough to make a claim. A lot of damaged books had to be written off inventory, and repairs at the warehouse continued for months, as did getting the house almost back to normal. I'm thankful this didn't happen during my busy season in the summer and fall.

Since the earthquake, I've never been able to taken them casually again. At the first shake I come down if I'm upstairs. I've been keeping water and some provisions up here in case I ever get trapped. I have never felt secure enough to have the door put back on.

My damage was only to property. I was fortunate. Two women in Paso Robles lost their lives when buildings fell on them. The links below will give you some basic reporting of the earthquake and also some other eye witness accounts and the pictures others have taken of the downtown area in Paso Robles and some of the progress being made in restoring the downtown. One thing you will read about that still is not restored is the parking lot that was destroyed by the eruption of the sulfur hot springs. Every time one goes to the library or city hall, the smell of sulphur is a reminder of that historic day.

You don't want to wake up the way I did at 5:32 AM -- hearing a loud crash that almost jolts you out of bed. I jumped out of bed and ran for the doorway. I huddled under it for a few seconds, waiting to see if more would follow. I saw that some of my books stacked in the hallway had fallen, but fortunately, none of the bookcases had, as they did last time. Kevin Will, the owner of our local radio station, KPRL, must have dressed quickly and rushed to the station. With a few minutes he was breaking into the regular broadcast to tell us it was a 4.5 quake centered about 8 miles S, SW of Lake Nacimiento, CA. That is about 15 miles west of Paso Robles, meaning it was also very near where I live in Templeton, CA,since as the crow flies, we are about two miles south of the Paso Robles downtown area.

After things seems to calm down, I picked the books up and put them back and returned to bed, hoping to get some more sleep. Sleep, however did not come quickly, since I was still concerned about aftershocks. I prayed, and finally fell back to sleep, re awaking at 9:45, still pretty groggy -- so much so I forgot to turn in to Treader Joe's when doing my Saturday shopping, and i was on the southbound on ramp of 101 before I realized it. Had to get off at next stop and turn around to get to TJ's, and then on to Farmer's market.

I sure hope we don't have hard aftershocks in the next few days!

See the locations of people who felt this earthquake. This shows a map, the intensities of the way people in different locations felt the quake, and also gives you a place to record your own responses. Just click the different tabs at the top.

There was an aftershock at 10:55 AM June 20, that registered 3.3 magnitude, but I didn't feel it. I did feel the 2.2 quake that occurred just as I was falling asleep at 12:08 this morning. It was only four miles west of Templeton, which is probably why I felt it more than the aftershock yesterday, which although stronger, was farther away. There's nothing quite like a pronounced earthquake to spoil that twilight zone when you are almost asleep. You wonder if it's really safe afterward, or whether you ought to stay on the alert for more. I hope we are pretty well through this round of shaking. I need my sleep.