Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Voices

“Californians usually welcome rain. But not this time.”

--Meteorologist Harry Woolford.

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“We sleep outside in the parking lot of our apartment. We’ve been there one week. On Saturday they say it will rain and we will have only this.”

--Billaldo Jeronimo, 18, holding up a tarp.

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“I don’t understand. . . . They are supposed to have emergency services.”

--Phillip Denton, who trekked to the Crenshaw Disaster Assistance Center after his apartment building was condemned--only to be told someone would get back to him next week.

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“There may be something about a local site that amplifies ground shaking, independent of the source of the seismic shaking or how far away it is.”

--Wilfred D. Iwan, a Caltech earthquake specialist, discussing the leap-frog randomness of the locations reporting severe damage well away from the epicenter.

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“As long as the ground is moving, people won’t go inside.”

--One city official on the difficulty of getting squatters out of parks.

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“Can’t we move more quickly?”

--Mayor Richard Riordan, after the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety said a program could begin by February to demolish the city’s most seriously damaged buildings at no cost to the owners.

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“I’ve never seen a larger housing emergency anywhere.”

--U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros.

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“Many people did not attempt to get to work after the earthquake. But on Monday--we are all afraid of what we will face.”

--Frank White, chief of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

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“Nature gave her to us and nature took her away.”

--Anastacio Vigil at the Reseda funeral service for his 4-year-old daughter, Amy.