| California Livin' | | | | horror stories to tell, either about themselves, their |
| The Pacific Coast Highway, or PCH, runs along the | | | | families or friends. |
| Californian coast. For much of the way heading north | | | | It was the aftermath I found the most unsettling for, as |
| from Los Angeles up to Santa Barbara and beyond, it | | | | I have said, the aftershocks went on for months even |
| skirts the beach winding its way around the mountains | | | | though they slowly decreased in intensity. For the first |
| which rise up immediately to its right. On the other side | | | | few days, as each shock came through, I found |
| of the road, perched between the road and the ocean | | | | myself heading for the dining room table at home or |
| are various enclaves favoured by the rich and famous. | | | | my desk in the office or ducking as if something were |
| Part of Malibu sits on the beach on the left-hand side | | | | about to fall on me. Indeed, for the first couple of nights, |
| of PCH, a thin strip of highly expensive real estate that | | | | I put a mattress under the dining room table and slept |
| ordinary mortals only dream of sharing. But, | | | | on it secure in the knowledge that I would have some |
| paradoxically, some of these enclaves are located in | | | | protection if another quake came through. Many |
| the most dangerous areas of all. | | | | months later I was having dinner with my family in a |
| They are, to begin with, prone to damage from the | | | | restaurant near Cambridge when one of the waiters |
| fires that rip across the mountains and which tear | | | | dropped something heavy. To everyone's |
| down the canyons towards PCH. If the winds are in | | | | astonishment, instinct kicked in and I was soon heading |
| the wrong direction, sparks and embers fly across the | | | | for the floor before I realised I was not in California. |
| road and can lodge in the timber shingles and set them | | | | Earthquakes are caused when two tectonic plates rub |
| alight. Fires on the mountains destroy the roots of | | | | up against each other and find a way to relieve the |
| some plants and the soil can thus become eroded, | | | | pressure thus created. In the case of California, two |
| setting off avalanches of stones and boulders | | | | such plates are to be found in the San Andreas Fault. |
| towards and across the road. And, if that were not | | | | There are a large number of places where this fault |
| enough, there are the terrific mudslides that come | | | | can actually be seen, and I used to take visitors to one |
| cascading down the mountain sides and sweep | | | | such spot in the San Gabriel Mountains, about an hour's |
| across PCH in sudden muddy floods. These are | | | | drive north-east of Los Angeles. Many of my chums |
| caused by the rains loosening the soil to the point | | | | thought I was out of my mind when, later on, I rented a |
| where the ground just gives way under its own | | | | cabin in these mountains just a mile away from the |
| weight. Many times have I seen the earth-moving | | | | fault itself. I reasoned, however, that in the event of |
| machinery out and about clearing up the rock falls | | | | another earthquake my cabin would merely 'float' and |
| (some of which were caused by earth tremors, and | | | | be undamaged. Fortunately, this was never put to the |
| mudslides along PCH. | | | | test. |
| And so we have seen in the news broadcasts | | | | As we have seen recently the next most destructive |
| recently, pictures of the houses in that and other parts | | | | natural phenomenon that Californians have to put up |
| of Malibu, and indeed elsewhere along the Californian | | | | with is the fires which regularly blaze through the |
| coast, destroyed by the fire that makes no distinction | | | | mountains, often fanned by the dry Santa Anna winds |
| between rich and poor and which settles on the | | | | that the area gets around October time. The recent |
| timber-framed houses that make up the majority in | | | | one was encouraged by the driest period in recorded |
| California. | | | | history and, so it is being said, exacerbated by sporadic |
| Few people can be unaware of these catastrophic | | | | arson. It is not generally known that much of the |
| fires which raged through seven counties on the | | | | Californian scrub land relies on occasional fires for |
| Californian coast from Santa Barbara in the north past | | | | regeneration purposes in much the same way as |
| San Diego in the south and on into Mexico and which | | | | some plants in the Australian bush rely on fires to |
| necessitated over one million people being evacuated | | | | release seed pods and put some nutrient into the soil. |
| from their homes (the largest evacuation of people | | | | Thus, in my time in Los Angeles there were fires |
| since the Civil War), killed half a dozen people and | | | | every year, some more destructive than others. Most |
| which razed close to 2,000 properties and caused | | | | were caused by lightning strikes or spontaneous |
| damage costing billions of dollars. When you consider | | | | combustion of dry vegetation, though falling power lines |
| that the same area is subject to earthquakes and | | | | and deliberate arson are also factors these days. |
| mudslides, and plays host to rattlesnakes and | | | | The one that occurred in October 1993, for example, |
| tarantulas and God knows what else besides, it is a | | | | had devastated more than 80,000 acres of land by its |
| wonder that anyone in their right minds would choose | | | | second night, destroyed over 500 homes and buildings |
| to live there. | | | | and caused more than 30,000 people to be evacuated |
| I lived in Los Angeles for three years from 1992. In that | | | | from their homes. There were at that time eighteen |
| time, we had three days of rioting, a serious | | | | major fires that were being spread to smaller ones |
| earthquake, major fires along the coast and, in the wet | | | | thanks to Santa Anna winds gusting up to 75 mph. |
| weather, mudslides as well. People sometimes asked | | | | A few weeks after this fire, I took my usual weekend |
| me why I chose to live there. The answer, of course, | | | | drive through the Santa Monica mountains and was |
| was that I didn't choose to live there; I was posted | | | | astonished not only at the sheer extent of the |
| there and, on the whole, enjoyed my time living in | | | | devastation, but of the signs of regeneration. Buildings |
| Marina del Rey and working in Century City. Other | | | | that I had driven past were no more; only the brick |
| people move to California to enjoy the very mild | | | | chimney stacks of the wooden houses showed that a |
| climate and hope not to be affected by the natural | | | | building once existed there. A swimming pool, |
| disasters that occur there on a regular basis. | | | | seemingly in the middle of nowhere but obviously in |
| I suppose that of all the natural disasters, earthquakes | | | | what was originally someone's back yard, stood |
| are the most serious. The one which struck Los | | | | incongruously and full of water stained black from the |
| Angeles without any warning in the early hours of 14 | | | | smoke and soot of the fires. Scorch marks across |
| January 1994 was devastating by any standards. | | | | some of the mountain roads showed where fires, |
| Over forty people were killed, more than 3,000 people | | | | fanned by the high winds, had seared the surfaces. |
| seriously injured and, at a sudden stroke, more than | | | | The mountains in the main had been burned to the |
| 30,000 people rendered homeless. Major roads and | | | | ground, though there were odd patches of green |
| bridges were severed and thousands of buildings | | | | which the flames had not touched. And the mountains |
| destroyed or rendered dangerous. The cost ran into | | | | were eerily quiet for the birds would not return until |
| billions. The aftershocks, some of which seemed | | | | there was somewhere to roost and something to eat. |
| almost as heavy as the original quake, went on for | | | | Perhaps the mudslides don't make the newspaper |
| many months. By the middle of that May, it was | | | | headlines overseas but they can sometimes be as |
| estimated that there had been more than 8,000 of | | | | terribly destructive as the fires. Heavy rain loosens the |
| them. The aftershocks were very unsettling and for | | | | soil which at points is unable to sustain its own weight. |
| many days after the quake, hundreds of thousands of | | | | The result is avalanches of mud that swoop down the |
| people slept out of doors in tents or makeshift shelters | | | | mountain sides, often taking houses along with it in |
| so as to get some relief from the danger of falling | | | | much the same way as European avalanches of |
| masonry. | | | | snow can. I've seen the householders along the Pacific |
| When an earthquake strikes, instinct (probably boosted | | | | Coast Highway ringing their houses with sandbags |
| by the safety advertisements that are regularly aired | | | | after a period of prolonged rain. And I've sometimes |
| on television in California) sends you straight to shelter | | | | seen how the mudslides sweep all before it despite |
| of some sort; a doorway or beneath a table. In my | | | | these precautions. |
| case, I happened to be sitting in my living room talking | | | | So to return to my original question: why do people |
| to someone on the telephone. Still clutching the | | | | choose to live in California? It's simply because - |
| telephone, I dived under my dining room table and | | | | despite the earthquakes, fires, mudslides, rattlesnakes, |
| stayed there until the terrific shaking stopped. I was | | | | tarantulas and God knows what else besides - it's the |
| unhurt and my apartment suffered only minor damage. | | | | most marvellous place to be! |
| I was lucky, for various colleagues had a variety of | | | | |