NPR Radio has been presenting a multitude of complaints about the Red Cross. It is all based on the performance of the Red Cross in Haiti.
Well, I have had some experience with the Red Cross, and I would like to share it with you.
This involves the Landers Earthquake. We have a weekend house in Landers.
Landers is a fairly small but large town in Southern California, near Palm Springs. It is small because it consists only of a Post Office out in the middle of the Mojave Desert, and it is large because of a sign that says “Landers Pop 10,000”. It is actually fairly close to Joshua Tree National Park and Giant Rock.
Landers has no downtown, but has a Community Center on Reche Road at Landers Lane. I was told that “Landers is the world’s best kept secret. There are 10,000 people there, and no one even knows about it”. My answer was “Well, maybe something will happen someday, and everyone will know about Landers”’
Then while we were in Orange County CA at 4:57 am on June 28, 1992, the 7.3 earthquake hit. We felt it 130 miles away. We decided to drive out to Landers (about 130 miles) to see how the house did. At the time we left, they did not know where the epicenter was.
When we got there about 10 am, we saw that our 1959 Plymouth had worked itself out of the garage, even though the garage door was closed. In the house, the big picture window was broken, the walls were cracked, the chimney was broken, and things were thrown all over the house. We would have to do a lot of cleaning. There was a lot of damage. No water, no electricity, no phone.
It was morning, so I checked our battery powered things, to be sure we would have lights that night. We listened to the radio. They were talking, and they had not located any damage anywhere. One guy said he thought the damage was in Palm Springs, but the other guy said that there was only one report of a picture which had fallen off the wall.
They also decided that the damage was not in Palm Springs, Yucca Valley, or Joshua Tree. Then one guy said “What about Landers?” And the other guy said “Landers is OK because we have had no complaints from Landers.” The other guy then said “Maybe they are not calling in because their telephone lines are not working.” So they agreed that maybe they should check with Landers. They then found out that there was a lot of damage in Landers, including a lot of houses that had fallen off their foundations.
Anyhow, we had a lot of work to do. In the afternoon, I heard on the radio that the Red Cross had set up in the local Landers Elementary School, which was about 5 miles away. You could go there and get a case of drinking water.
So we went there. The Red Cross people were easy to spot, and were very friendly, eager to help out.
I said I wanted a case of water (24 cans), and the guy grabbed a case and loaded it in our truck for us. He then said “How about another case of water? There are three of you, and you might run out. How about a third case of water? You can use it for cleaning if you want.” So, I agreed, and they immediately loaded us up with three cases of water. I was very happy.
Then the guy said “How would you like $70 cash?” I said “no”, and he said that if we were earthquake victims, we could definitely use some free money. So, I agreed, and he handed me $70.
By this time, I was eager to escape, in case he wanted the money back.
But he said “How would you like to have a nice, hot Chicken Dinner? It is getting late, and you can work harder if you have something to eat.” I said OK, and the three of us sat down to a really nice hot Chicken Dinner.
When we left the school, we were really happy, and full, and were willing to get back to work.
I will always be grateful to the Red Cross for what they did for us. While everyone else was looking around, trying to find Landers, they were busy trucking water and cooking Chicken Dinners. I am impressed that they really know how to treat disaster victims.
That night, when it got dark outside, we sat there looking out at the complete darkness. There were no lights anywhere. We had some solar powered flashlights that I had available. But it was eerily extremely dark. The Milky Way was so bright, that it seemed to light everything up. I said “The coyotes will still be here in Landers long after the people are gone.”
Later, when they were trying to assess the damage that we sustained to our houses in Landers, the comment was made on the radio “Damage was minimal, because luckily no one lives there”.
Now, I am aware of just what NPR is trying to do. They are saying that the Red Cross gets a lot of money, and that the guys from NPR do not know where it is going. To me, it is just complainers sitting at their desk doing nothing, while the Red Cross is out there in the trenches taking care of Earthquake Victims. I will be eternally grateful to the Red Cross, they are doing a great job. We should continue to support them. Who knows when and where to next disaster will strike? I never thought it would be Landers.
Other interesting stuff:
1. The earthquake hit at 4:57 am on June 28, 1992
2. We felt the 7.3 earthquake hit, we felt it 130 miles away
3. When we turned on the television, they were saying that they didn’t know where the epicenter was, but they were sure it was in Joshua Tree
4. At about 5:10 am I made a Prediction: I said “I will predict that the epicenter will be in Landers, at the corner of Aberdeen and Old Woman’s Springs Road. Everyone will now know where Landers is.”
5. If you looked down Reche Road from Old Woman Springs Road, you would see where the road moved sideways about 18 inches
6. At the same place, if you took a picture of the telephone poles, you would be able to see the movement, where the telephone poles are in a perfect straight line, then immediately go 18 inches sideways, and then go perfectly straight again (I have a nice picture of that).
7. We had a ton of aftershocks. I could feel one and say “4.1”, and be correct
8. We went out in our dune buggy a couple of days later. There are a lot of free standing boulders sitting on top of the sand in that location. We saw that the boulders had moved around in a circle, and that there was a round impression in the sand under each rock.
9. After 6 months, we had a presentation given by an older gentleman from the USGS at a Yucca Valley Water Board Meeting. He said that an earthquake usually has both sides moving, so an 18 inch movement would be 9 inches of movement from each side. But the Landers earthquake had one side move 18 inches, while the other side remained stationary. This means that the land boundaries in Landers are wrong now, and are off by 18 inches, depending on which side of the quake your land is on. Some of your land moved 18 inches onto the other guy’s land (check your fence line). He also said that the epicenter was 18 feet from the intersection of Aberdeen and Old Woman Springs Road, so I was off in my prediction by 18 feet (10 minutes after the earthquake occurred)!!
Here are some good Pictures:
http://blogs.agu.org/tremblingearth/2012/06/28/landers-20/
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