The Earth Shook and My Heart Quaked

My experience with the 2003 San Simeon Earthquake

Timing Can Be the Difference between Life and Death

At 11:10 in the morning I was about to meet a customer in my book warehouse at 11:30. It was only a short walk from the house. I had just come down from my office/bedroom upstairs.

On my way out I stopped to talk to my husband beside the buffet in the kitchen near the sliding glass door that led outside. I was about to head out that door to the shed that served as my warehouse. While we stood there talking, the earth began to shake.

It seemed the shaking went on forever, but in fact, it only lasted about a minute. Books started to fall from bookcases downstairs. Upstairs in the hall that led to my office, the bookcases lining the walls all fell down, spilling the books on their shelves onto the floor. They blocked the door to my office, the bathroom, and the other bedroom. Had I still been in my office upstairs, I would have been trapped. There was no window to the outside in that room.

Had I gotten to the shed to prepare for my customer, I probably would have been badly injured or even dead. It was full of tall loaded bookcases. Large crates of books were displayed on a long gondola near the door. There was barely…