Buildings.
Centered in the San Fernando Valley, the quakes shook buildings from San Diego clear across
Las Vegas.
There were many casualties.
At one hospital, there was what one witness called a tidal wave of walking wounded.
An overpass on the Santa Monica freeway collapsed, and so did an intersection of two major freeways
in the San Fernando Valley.
People were trapped in cars and buildings and caught in fires in communities across
the valley.
Bonnie Strauss is on the scene.
Bonnie?
Nancy, I guess no words can really do justice to what everyone is feeling here.
Everyone is on edge and as jittery as possible.
And it's hard to really understand the impact of something like this unless you've seen
it either during and while it's happening or right after.
American Journal producer Phil Reader took a home camera and he filmed some of the disaster
immediately following the earthquake.
The violence of this earthquake was the most intense feeling that I've ever felt.
And I've been in California my entire life.
It must have been somewhere around 4.30 and our entire house, of course, was pitch black
because my entire family were asleep.
Suddenly a joke exploded in our house.
It wasn't a shaking.
It wasn't a rolling.
It was an explosion without the smoke.
We got outside and this was oh maybe 10 minutes later we could start looking around, though
still pitch black outside.
We looked up and we saw that my neighbor's chimney had collapsed.
It had collapsed so violently that at least one, two, three of the bricks flew at least
30 or 40 feet into the air, smashing into my neighbor's Volvo and making huge dents
on the hood.
I then panned my eyes over to my chimney, my solid, solid red brick chimney and like
a child's set of blocks it too had collapsed.
It was a devastating sight.
We get the flashlights going and as we walk back into the house on a moment of calm we
look and we see that the house is in an absolute shambles.
My refrigerator, a very heavy model, had been thrown three or four feet from the wall.
Drawers were pushed open.
My kitchen pantry had exploded out with every bit of canned goods and baked beans, soup,
you name it.
Everything that was in my pantry had blown out into the floor.
We have a ceiling fan that was separated from the wall.
One of the blades of the fan actually broke from the fan and flew 15 feet to the right.
We're getting an aftershock right now.
It's not very hard but we feel everything moving and it's continuing even as we speak
right now.
What I'm saying about this earthquake is that it absolutely ruined the inside of not only
my home but just about every neighbor that I have on my block.
Our neighbors were sleeping in their bed and above their bed they have a very beautiful
200 pound mirror.
They leapt out of their bed, seconds later that mirror collapsed and would have landed
on their faces.
We are very lucky people.
We're lucky because we survived without being hurt.
There are people in Los Angeles now who weren't so lucky.
Incredible to see so much destruction.
Bonnie, I understand you had your own terrifying experience during the earthquake.
What happened?
Well, Nancy, it wasn't like anything I'd ever experienced before.
It was around 431 and we were sleeping and then all of a sudden we live on a small hill
about 15 minutes from Northridge and all of a sudden the entire house and we have a lot
of glass and a lot of trees around just started rocking and rolling in such a way that you
felt that the earth was actually going to engulf you.
Often before with earthquakes we knew that they would stop.
This one you had the sense that maybe it wouldn't.
Did you panic?
Totally.
I was surprised because I can speak in a very calm manner but inside it was like my heart
was racing.
Obviously we had no electricity.
I knew I should find some slippers or some sneakers and a flashlight and I realized how
ill prepared I was.
I was crawling on the floor.
I found some shoes.
I was able to get out with my husband and we went to find my son.
He had just been under a doorway.
He was coming to look for us and we kind of just groped around in the dark and because
our house is made with so much glass we decided we should get outside but finding our way
outside was not easy.
What happened at your house?
Is it all right?
Actually we were lucky.
I mean our house is fine because it's built on bedrock but we decided to take a car ride
and we went out down away from the trees and we went to get a friend who I know is terrified
of earthquakes, even minor ones.
We went to get her and she was about 10 minutes away.
We were driving on the streets.
Obviously there weren't a lot of cars there.
People though had come out of their homes and many had lit candles.
They just did not want to be inside.
When we went to get her she opened the door sobbing and most of her, the entire contents
of her home, they were shattered.
Well we hope the situation gets better there for you Bonnie and for everyone out there.
Thank you for talking with us and we will have more on the California earthquake tomorrow.
Tonya Harding's controversial fans when we come back.
She definitely has some fans who are so devoted to her that it wouldn't surprise me to have
had that threat of violence.
Tonya Harding has always been a controversial figure and as Steve Davidson reports from
Portland Oregon, she has fans ready to go to outrageous lengths to show their dedication.
Elaine Stam is drawn to the sport of figure skating for its grace and athleticism and
as president of the one year old Tonya Harding fan club, she has a special passion for one
skater.
My initial reasoning for starting a fan club is because my heart went out to her when I
read that she was compared to these other skaters who were so called media darlings
and compared their designer dresses to ones that her sister-in-law made for her.
Many fans are attracted to Tonya because of her hardscrabble personal background and unconventional
skating style.
They feel that she has been overlooked at times because of her blue collar roots and
as a result, they have a chip on the shoulder attitude about the skating establishment.
At times that passion is expressed in extreme fashion.
Letters like these have been sent to major skating publications on Tonya's behalf, accusing
officials of a detestable display of bigotry and elitism.
Joe Herron is a Vietnam veteran and former journalist who regards support for Tonya as
a necessary form of combat.
Because not only myself but other people had become tired of just being polite all the
time and ignoring things that we think are instances of bias against Tonya.
So finally, I said, okay, the journalists quote unquote have had a couple years to address
these issues.
They're not interested in doing so, so I will.
This activist attitude on the part of those fans closest to Tonya has sometimes gone to
extremes.
Scott Lynn is a sports journalist in Portland and has followed Tonya's career since she
was 13.
I've got to think because she definitely has some fans who are so devoted to her and dedicated
to her well-being and her achieving that gold medal that it wouldn't surprise me to have
had that threat of violence.
One example of that occurred when columnist Julie Vader of the Oregonian newspaper was
allegedly threatened by Joe Herron.
The reporter's misdeed, she dared to write in her paper that Tonya Harding should consider
not smoking cigarettes.
That was determined to be negative press by some of the people in her fan club.
Joe Herron denies he ever threatened Julie Vader.
But as a board member of the Tonya Harding fan club and editor of the club's newsletter,
he has written several articles that have taken on a mean-spirited tone, including comments
like this.
Perhaps Kerrigan can defeat Tonya in accounting rooms at tournaments with media favoritism
and Eastern seaboard hype, but she will never defeat Tonya on the ice at figure skating.
Some people would suggest that the newsletter that you edit creates a culture of paranoia
that might encourage people to take the kind of action that was taken against Nancy Kerrigan.
I feel I set forth strong arguments as best I could with the poor abilities I have and
I'm okay.
Just everybody will live with it.
I mean it's no big deal.
It's just stuff I'm writing.
It's just questions I'm asking.
The fact is, Joe Herron's actions became a little too extreme even for his friend Tonya
Harding.
In the fall, she made it known that she wanted Joe to stay away from her.
He was removed as editor of the newsletter for two issues.
But by November, he was back writing and had moved in with Tonya's father as a roommate.
When we approached Tonya's father for a comment, he had this to say.
Clearly the pressure on Tonya and her family has been great.
In the past, that has led to an us against the world mentality.
But some feel that in order for Tonya to survive now, this has to change.
Dennis Ragelin is an organizer in the fan club and he thinks Joe Herron and others have
gone too far.
I think it's important that we are skating fans first and Tonya fans second.
And you can be a Tonya fan without disliking all the other skaters and judges and skating
community.
And that's not the only crack in the armor of support for Tonya Harding.
In the midst of this week's revelations, Joe Herron, the man many describe as Tonya's
most obsessed fan, checked himself in here at the Veterans Administration Hospital.
He claims, Nancy, that the reason was that he was depressed, depressed over this whole
affair.
Well, Nancy Kerrigan skated in public for the first time since the attack and it looks
like she is recovering quickly.
But things look bleaker for Tonya Harding even though she denies that she was involved
in the alleged plot to keep Kerrigan out of the Olympics.
When we come back, the heartbreaking climax of a custody battle.
Please raid a home to take a child away from his foster parents.
I can't believe they put my other children through this and they put that baby through
this.
Continental.
One airline can make a difference.
Business first.
The comfort and service of international first class at a business class fair.
That's the difference on Continental.
Wednesday, these grieving parents lost their daughter on Christmas Eve and they tell American
Journal they believe she was killed.
Now they're dedicated to solving her murder.
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