Today marks the 27th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, a 6.9 magnitude temblor that struck the Bay Area during a World Series game on October 17, 1989, killing 63 people and damaging 12,000 homes. In honor of the day I'm reposting this amazing archive footage from KGO-TV/ABC 7 which I previously posted to mark the 25th anniversary. But it's so great it deserves a watch if you missed it then.
This is Cheryl Jennings, who is still working at the station though she stepped down from the anchor desk last December, in her first year on the job, coming on air live just minutes after the quake struck. It's mesmerizing to watch, and as I talked about two years ago when I first watched it, Jennings is utterly calm and professional as she relays what little she knows in the first minutes after the quake remember, no cell phones, and information was not making it to the newsroom very quickly. In fact, at first, she thinks the baseball game is going to start up again soon.
Watch at the 7:20 mark as Jennings remains totally chill on the air as an aftershock hits. You also get to see some vintage Don Sanchez.
Also, as KRON 4 notes, "The 25th anniversary of the Oakland-Berkeley Hills Fire is also this week, on Wednesday, marking a quarter-century since the firestorm killed 25 people, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and caused about $1.5 billion in damage."
Previously: Ask A San Francisco Native: Where Were You During The 1989 Quake?