Loma Prieta, California, earthquake – October, 1989

On 18 October, 1989, about 5:04 P.M local time, an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 struck a branch fault of the San Andreas near the city of Santa Cruz. It came to be known as the Loma Prieta earthquake after the name of a 3,000-foot mountain in the Santa Cruz area that was close to the epicenter. The earthquake resulted from the slippage along the San Andreas Fault, a major fault line that runs through California.

The earthquake caused the collapse of a section of the double-deck Nimitz Freeway in Oakland, resulting in numerous fatalities. Additionally, a section of the Bay Bridge collapsed, and there were damages to buildings, roads, and infrastructure in San Francisco and other nearby cities.

The earthquake resulted in 63 deaths and over 3,700 injuries. Many of the casualties were due to the freeway collapse in Oakland. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes, and the overall economic impact was substantial. It was the most powerful earthquake to strike this part of California since the 1906 San Francisco quake.