A Living Stories Project
Earthquake Country
The West Coast is prone to natural disasters such as fires and earthquakes, and these
have affected the mission of the Oblates in various ways. There were two earthquakes in
particular in the San Fernando area, one in 1971 and the other in 1995 when Mary
Immaculate church at Pacoima, Santa Rosa and St. Ferdinand's were all severely
damaged. The school in Pacoima had to be rebuilt.
We heard first hand accounts of these disastrous earthquakes and also, of how
the Oblates were able to respond to the needs of the people in distress.
Two Major Earthquakes hit Oblate Parishes
We have had to live through two major earthquakes here, one that damaged our parish
church, Santa Rosa, and the other that so severely damaged the Mary Immaculate church that
it had to be rebuilt. This parish, Mary Immaculate, was the first parish that the new
province opened back in 1954, and it was called after the patron of the Province, Mary
Immaculate. It has about 35-40,000 people in it and every Sunday, we have about 10 masses
and some 14,000 people attend services here. We average 45 baptisms every week and 5 to 6
weddings a week so it is a busy parish.
Everyone
Came to the Church
The earthquakes have to be lived through to be believed. People came out to the church
crying and clutching their crosses and statues. I was going around in the Police car
telling people where to go to find help. The first thing that all the people did after the
earthquake was come to the parish. Santa Rosa became the center for the whole Valley. We
had sandwiches and the Red Cross and the Government came here and set up their office. It
was the Rescue Center. We even had people from the jails who were sent here to help out
with the cooking. This lasted for about three weeks and the Senate set up a hearing which
was held here in the Santa Rosa parish Hall. This was in 1971 and we received a
presidential commendation from President Nixon.
Nothing Organized save for the Oblates
The whole disaster relief was so disorganized. I was surprised because really, nothing
was going on, except what the Oblates were able to provide or bring in. We served three
hot meals a day and drinking water. Cardinal Manning came out to inspect. There was this
cartoon in the LA Times which showed the earth split in two by the quake and in the
middle, trying to hold it all together, was a picture of Santa Rosa
No one believed the Authorities
Luckily, the Church though damaged didn’t need to be rebuilt. People were so
scared that they would not believe what the police or the mayor were telling them, so the
Oblates had to serve as their spokesperson. The Government set up a relief office in the
parish and in one week, they had given out 20 million dollars in grants.
I was in bed when the floor started shaking
I was
in bed when it struck. Luckily it was early, around 6am, and the freeways and schools were
empty. I got up in the middle of the shaking and knocked on the door of my fellow Oblate
who was sleeping next door. The quake had not woken him up. When he got up to answer the
door, he looked in the full length mirror on his door and saw that his face and head were
shaking. He got so scared that he raced out in his pajamas and got in his car and fled. He
didn’t come back for three weeks.
To be in the middle of an earthquake
You are in bed and you feel the floor shaking, and the vibrations start to increase and
you start to hear the noise of things moving and then crashing around you. The beams above
you start to stretch and then you hear them crack, and you hear the crash of bottles from
the bathroom, and things in your room start to fall around you, like the record player and
books come off the shelves. You hear this cronk cronk cronk. But you just stay there. What
else can you do?
Like the scene from the Titanic
This is all happening in the dark so you can’t see anything much, only hear it.
You put something on your feet and go see how the others are coping. When you go into the
kitchen, it looks like that scene in the Titanic where all the piled up dishes go crashing
on to the floor. The TV is on its back, broken, and the picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary
that used to hang on the wall is splayed on the floor.
Statues launched like missiles
In the church, a concrete and marble statue of Our Lady was launched like a missile and
landed with its head buried in the floor. The heads of Jesus and Saint Joseph were
somewhere in the middle of the church. It was much the same in 1991 when the quake struck
Saint Ferdinands. There were massive gas explosions and I remember watching a five foot
slab of concrete flying though the air. That was January 17, 1994.
The Visitation of Christ Relief Organization
We set up an volunteer organization that we called the Visitation of Christ
whose purpose was to find out what the living situation of the people was like. They would
go door to door, and visit every house to see if the people there were injured or anyone
had been killed.
Housing
the homeless
While people were ordered to leave their homes because they were no longer considered
safe, many were so afraid that they ignored the order or didn’t believe it. We had to
set up tents and the halls and school became living quarters for hundreds of displaced
people and families. We would visit these folk and say Mass for them and organize mariachi
bands to keep their spirits up. Lots of people were in trauma and needed psychological
help. Lots of people fled to Las Vegas, escaping only in their pajamas.
Saved by being late
One
Oblate was renowned for being late for communion calls. One day, he went back to the
chapel to get something and before he got the high rise building where he was going to
distribute communion, the earthquake came and threw him right to the ground. He didn't
even have a chance to throw his hand out. All the scars were on the back of his hand and I
guess, most of the people in that building were killed. He only had about 60 yards
to walk before he was in there. So that finished that job.
Back to the top.
[ Day One ] [ Day Two ] [ Day Three ] [ Day Four ] [ Day Five ] [ Day Six ] [ Day Seven ] [ Day Eight ] [ Day Nine ] [ Day Ten ] [ Summing Up ]
If you recall other stories of the
Oblates serving people in distress, you can share them by going to the Living Stories Discussion Page and post
in your comments under Oblates of the West.
