The Loma Prieta earthquake struck during a World Series game
On this day · 17 October 1989
A magnitude 6.9 quake hit the San Francisco Bay Area minutes before a World Series game, knocking the broadcast off the air.
At 5:04 p.m. on October 17, 1989, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake ruptured deep beneath the Santa Cruz Mountains, near a peak called Loma Prieta. The shaking lasted only about 15 seconds, but it killed 63 people, injured 3,757, and caused billions in damage across the Bay Area.
Its timing made it unforgettable. Tens of millions were tuned in to Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics when the live broadcast cut out. The two cities, separated by the bay, were now linked by disaster: a section of the Bay Bridge dropped, and Oakland’s double-deck Cypress Street Viaduct pancaked, crushing cars below.
The series resumed ten days later, the only major sporting event ever halted by an earthquake.
Geologists later concluded the slip happened on a deep, atypical fault rather than the shallow San Andreas itself.
Sources & references
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