My Earthquake Experience - California January 17, 1994 Posted By: Norma Hickox

While living in California I experienced floods and saw houses sliding down hillsides. I was there when the Rodney King beating took place, actually lived a short distance from where the trial was held. I experienced the riots afterward. I was teaching in one of the preschools during the worst day of the rioting. All the parents were called and those who were able came to get their children and take them home. The children whose parents couldn't be reached or couldn't get away to get them, were all gathered into one room of the school. The blinds were closed, the doors locked. All the teachers were there also, including some who shouldn't have been because they were hysterical and upsetting the children. I sat in the middle of the room and played the guitar and sang with the kids and teachers while the rioting went on a few blocks from the school.I also experienced one of more devastating wildfires the state had. Standing in the front door of my living room I could look across the way to a hillside that was burning closer every minute. The smoke filled the air.earthquakedamageaftershocks