Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    News plus info in soapbox says it is really bad.
    
    6.9 richter, part of the top of the Bay Bridge down, highways
    and buildings down.
    
    Bonnie

    Please, let's hear from you CA noters soon,... 

    Could we please put cross-references here to other files and topics
    where this is also discussed?  I follow this one regularly, and the
    Digital file, but it has limited links allowed and will doubtless be
    busy.  I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to hear more... 
    
    thanks,
    Marge

    I've seen the most discussion in PEAR::SOAPBOX, note 880, I think.
    
    Don't expect to hear from the northern CA noters anytime soon.  I'm
    sure that most won't be going to work for several days yet.
    
    I've been watching/listening to NBC news for the past couple of hours.
    This is apparently NOT "the big one" that people have been expecting.
    Damage is localized, but is severe in places.  The most deaths so far
    appear to have been on the approach to the Bay Bridge where some 50+
    people died.
    
    				Steve

    
    
    I have received a mail message from DougO (SKYLRK::OLSON) on 
    a different node.
    
    He is OK and is with power and water in San Jose.  He basically
    said the situation was chaotic.
    						nancy b.

    
>    I have received a mail message from DougO (SKYLRK::OLSON) on 
>    a different node.


	 Whew!  One down......thank god!  Now, I have two
	 more.....Tony and Sherm!! Where are you!!!??!!  I know too
	 many people in the Bay area......

	 i can't even concentrate on work.

	 kath

    There's a good update from the West on Pear::soapbox, #880.94.
    
    Briana

    Hi All-
    
    Our biggest problem in the lesser damaged areas is power and phones;
    power was out through huge portions of the bay area last night,
    though the structural collapses and life losses seem to b mostly
    restricted to a few big incidents.  Can't trust this phone line
    even now, so I'll keep it short; all 3 of us living in my house
    made it home last night to the south end of the almaden valley;
    our neighborhood has had power all night; nobody else we reached
    by phone did have power, in saratoga, los gatos, mt view, palo alto,
    or menlo park.  concerns exist about water supplies.  most everybody
    stayed home from work today because lots of the highways have problems;
    the bay bridge and the cypress section collapses, rt 17 lanslides,
    the buckling on 280 just north of 85, some elevated ramps (race
    street to 280) have been reported as separating...I was at Moffett
    Field when it happened, and offices there were only minorly trashed,
    though everybbody got a big scare.  Managed to reach my parents
    last night via voicephone and I'm glad to see my nmail msg to Nancy
    carried last night...;-).  We're not expecting to go to work for
    several days.  I'll check in later.
    
    DougO

          re: .9 (DougO)

          Doug,

          From the last note and mail I received today, it doesn't seem
          like you're getting my mails...

          Today I received a mail message and vaxPHONE from the system
          manager of the node you sent me mail from last night, and the
          node that I replied to.   He basically said that node was for
          business use only (i.e., don't use it for personal stuff).

          I felt like saying "Puuuullease!*&^!"  Like he didn't realize a
          little earthquake had happened.  Kinda made me regret not posting
          that nodename in .6 so that all of WomanNotes would have sent you
          mail to that node.  He would've really thrown a fit.

          So, just FYI, I don't know what has happened to the mails I've
          sent you at that node since you obviously have not received them.
  
                                                     nancy b.

          p.s.  At first I thought it was you PHONEing me and nearly
          answered with "Hey, what's shakin'?"  for a little comic relief.
          (ha ha ha, right? :-)

          p.p.s.  Have you heard from Mary Vaskas or Charles Haynes?

    I, too, have friends in the SZO and WRO offices...  Unable to get
    through using AT&T [obviously... stay OFF the phones, right?]. 
    Can't get through to one of my friends parents, either, though I'll
    try tonight.
    
    My friend is home in Saucalito [sick], so I don't think she was
    on the roads at 5:04 last night.  But worry?  Oh, boy...
    
    marcia

    G'Day All,
    
    	I'd just like to send wishes from Australia to those in SF who made
    it through the earthquake.  We have seen extensive film on TV and it
    looks like a real mess.  My wife has some relatives in the bay area and
    so far we have been unable to get through on telephone to find out if
    they are OK, we'll just keep trying.
    
    	It might not have shaken our homes and offices but it certainly has
    shaken our hearts.
    
    David.
    
    

    I've had requests to check the status of 4 folks, and unfortunately
    can't directly contact any of them (Mary Vaskas, Sherman Aikala,
    Tony Purmal, and Charles Haynes.)  My roommate did see Charles after
    the quake (they both work at WSL, which lost power but suffered
    no injuries) but we don't know anything else.  Sorry...phone service
    here is still extremely spotty, most calls require about 20 tries
    to get through.  As of the 5 o'clock news, over 120,000 "customers"
    in SF and 270,000 in the peninsula counties were still without power...
    we think that means households, so probably around a million people
    are still lightless going into the second evening.  
    
    My own mental state is not really very much together...we are still
    getting aftershocks, nobody slept worth a damn after the initial
    shock and the hours of commuting and the hours of spellbound
    news-listening...nervous tension won't let go.  The house here is
    in way-south San Jose, we figure we're less than 15 miles from the
    epicenter, which was north of Santa Cruz (45 minutes over the mountain
    from here).  Four of us got together this morning after terrible
    nights and decided we needed some release...we took a 50-mile bike
    ride out into the foothills all afternoon, and now we're exhausted...
    but still wired.  Maybe we'll sleep.
    
    More when I get the chance.
    
    DougO

    Howdy folks. The Palo Alto DEC sites are fine. (That's UCO/Stanford
    Square, SRC/Systems Research Center, UCP/181 Lytton). The Mountain View
    DEC site is ok too. I don't know about San Fransisco or Santa Clara, but
    assume things are ok.

    I won't repeat things you can hear on the news, but will give you the
    local/DEC slant on things.

    Most people did NOT come in to work today. Don't worry yet.

    Our machines here came back up very smoothly. We lost one disk that was
    off line anyway, and two monitors. Very cheap. For those of you who have
    visited my office, the M&M jar has gone to the great candy store in the
    sky, and I have multi-colored candy all over my office floor. (The rubber
    chicken is fine, as are the chili-pepper lights.)  We got power back
    sometime last night. I will admit that this is the biggest earthquake I've
    ever been in, the next largest being a 5.5 some years ago. This is the
    first one that I even considered being worried about. It was a biggie.

    Stanford Square (home of WRL - the western research lab, and WSE -
    Westcoast System's Engineering (I think) came through relatively unscathed
    as well. The building lost one window, and an air conditioning chiller
    fell off of it's base on the roof, so people were being kept out of the
    fourth floor earlier today. Network connectivity was restored this
    afternoon. We had local connections almost immediately, IP/TCP came up
    right away, then DECnet to ZSO (Seattle) then DECnet to ZKO.

    SRC similiarly suffered only minor losses. Mountain View on the other hand
    had their sprinkler system on for about an hour. What a disaster!  They
    will be digging out for a while...

    I live a few miles from work, I lost a couple of vases, nothing serious.
    Our cats were freaked, but settled down pretty quick. Janice flew out to
    Houston this afternoon. SFO was open and running at 75% this morning, 100%
    by later this afternoon. The only areas still seriously affected are: SF -
    the Marina and parts of SOMA (South of Market), Santa Cruz - various
    areas, but worst downtown. Los Gatos - much of the city is without power.
    Oakland - the "Cypress Structure" and the Bay Bridge is closed. The rest
    of the Bay is cleaning up and getting back to normal.

    Doug you worry too easily. You from out of state, or what? I went to bed
    early, had no trouble getting to sleep, and slept through the aftershocks.
    My brother called to ask how I was and I said "Fine, how are you?" He
    said, "Are you all right?" and I replied "Of course I am, why shouldn't I
    be?". He said (slightly put out) "Don't be a wise-ass.". "Ohhh! (lightbulb
    finally goes off in my head) You mean the *earthquake*. Yeah, we're all
    fine, please tell Mom." I mean it was a big earthquake, and scary and all
    that, but that's the price you pay for living in paradise, right?

    So how's the weather out there? It was in the low 80's, clear and
    beautiful out here.

	Cheers,
	-- Charles

    Fortunately, my sister in SF is fine. She hadn't left work yet
    when the quake hit, though she was frazzled enough not to think
    of calling my mother from work (they didn't lose phone service in
    the municipal buildings). Of greater concern was the fact that
    her apartment is in the Marina area where the fire was. But again,
    she was fortunate enough that her building wasn't even touched
    (in fact, right across the street from her was a school that they
    set up as a shelter for the people left homeless by the fire).
    
    Her phone service from home was eventually restored and she called
    my mother straight away.
    
    I have three friends in Sunnyvale that I haven't heard about yet
    (one being ex-Digit/wn'er Lisa Chabot), but Sunnyvale seems to have
    weathered the quake pretty well, so I suspect that they're all right.
    
    --- jerry

re: Charles

Wise *ss. It's beautiful here; the leaves are turning all sorts of lovely
colors, and they look their best against gray!
	Mez

    re, Charles:
    
>           -< What? You mean that little rumble was an EARTHQUAKE? >-
    
>    said, "Are you all right?" and I replied "Of course I am, why shouldn't I
>    be?". He said (slightly put out) "Don't be a wise-ass.". "Ohhh! (lightbulb
    
>    So how's the weather out there? It was in the low 80's, clear and
>    beautiful out here.
    
    Your brother's right.  You are a wise-ass.
    

 Jeez, Mez. 40 degrees, wet, and gray equates to "beautiful?" Maybe as a nerd, 
it seems like perfect weather to stay inside? :-) :-)

 the Doctah

    Note 2955 in VAXWRK::FELINE discusses the earthquake.  There are
    several FELINErs in the area, all of whom are fine.  There are 
    notes from several of them telling their stories so far.
    
    Karen.

    Glad things were so easily handled in Palo Alto, Charles...
    
    > I live a few miles from work, I lost a couple of vases, nothing serious.
    > [...]
    > Doug you worry too easily. You from out of state, or what? I went to bed
    > early, had no trouble getting to sleep, and slept through the aftershocks.
                                                               
    but spending 2.5 hours getting home while listening to the radio
    reports that the epicenter was close to there, seeing power out
    and lights out the whole way, driving through Los Gatos and seeing
    entire blocks cordoned off, dark, driving over rt 17 which was closed
    from that point southwards due to rockslides, driving around and
    threading through rockslides less than 5 miles from our house...
    these were not conducive to peace of mind.  Getting home and seeing
    only minor damage was so anticlimactic that I've been waiting for
    the other shoe to drop.  The 5.0 aftershock at 3am this morning
    woke me for the third time, not that I'd been sleeping all that
    well anyway.  Anyway...we're now 42 hours past the jolt, and I don't
    think I'll relax until the 72 hour point...I don't begrudge your
    peace of mind, Charles, but I can't match it.
    
    DougO

    Hi there all.  We here at the Santa Clara facility are doing just
    fine at the present.  Right now Facilities and Equipment Support
    Group are in and we're cleaning up.  If I can answer any questions
    about family or friends here, let me know.  I'll try my best.
    
    Thank you all for all the concern and caring.  
    
    Donna (Scared but working anyway)
    
    

    re .20:  (Doug)
    
    I'm with you, buddy---I only began sleeping last nite.  As for "living
    in paradise", no thanks.  I'm moving to the northeast with all it's
    rain, snow, beautiful leaves, hurricaines (occassionally), ice,
    sleet, wind, and even (Gawd, I hate 'em) T-storms a week from today.
    After 23 years in CA, this puppy is out of here.  :)
    
    kim _who_isn't_moving_just_cause_of_the_quake  --but it makes a
    damn great incentive.  
    
    

Just to let folks know -- the San Francisco office is re-opened today.
The main area of damage was at an expansion plate between
the two sections of the building.  The building did move apart there,
but it was planned that way -- the walls and ceilings have been repaired
now at that seam.  And all SF employees are safe.

	FYI,
		MKV

    Yay, Mary!  

    Jerry, and others who asked. Lisa Chabot is fine, I had lunch with her
    yesterday. Lee Tatistcheff is in Santa Clara/San Jose, and weathered the
    quake fine as well.

	-- Charles

    re:.25
    
    Ya beat me to it. I talked with Lisa on Saturday night.
    
    --- jerry

   Someone asked about Tony Purmal, just in case you have not reached
   him yet, he and his family are fine.