The most devastating earthquake in Los Angeles prompted me to seek psychotherapy. Fears of an earthquake still exist

Hello, and welcome back to the LA Times Unshaken newsletter. I'm Shelby Jarrad, the Times's deputy managing editor for news.

The hidden mental health toll of earthquakes

Thirty years ago, I spent every Tuesday morning in my therapist's office trying to understand why the Earth never seemed to stop shaking.

At the time, seeking professional help for emotional challenges was not widely accepted, and the term “trauma” seemed reserved for people who had experienced something truly terrible.

However, the morning of January 17, 1994 left me damaged.

I was asleep at 4:31 a.m. when the 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake jolted me out of bed. The framed posters in my studio apartment crashed to the floor. Plates and plates were shattered in my kitchen, and the refrigerator moved forward.

My experience was shared by millions of Southern Californians, many of whom were much worse off than me.

Many others have ignored it, but not me. For weeks afterward, I felt earthquakes that were not there. My nightmares were filled with images of buildings collapsing on top of me.

One night while I was eating dinner at my favorite teriyaki restaurant, the ground moved. “Earthquake!” I screamed, dropping the large bowl of beef and the large Diet Coke on the floor as I tried to dive under the table. This is where the owner found one of his most loyal customers, scattered pieces of glazed meat, rice and ice cubes scattered on the floor next to me. “Dude, it was just a truck passing by,” he said in a calm voice.

This led me to therapy, where I spent many hours discussing why the earthquake affected my brain.

Physical damage receives a lot of attention after an earthquake. Mental, not so much.

Front page of the Los Angeles Times the day after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

(Los Angeles Times)

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Northridge Earthquake – the deadliest, most destructive and costliest earthquake ever to strike Southern California. We have made great progress since then: stronger building codes, rehabilitation of hazardous buildings, increased hospital accreditation, earthquake early warning systems, and strengthening of highways and bridges.

But the mental health aspect of surviving a major earthquake receives less attention.

Weeks after the Northridge quake, a Los Angeles Times survey of people living near the epicenter found that half described it as one of the worst experiences of their lives, and nearly 1 in 3 said the psychological aftershocks were still severe. Of those surveyed, 1 in 4 said they had suffered long-term psychological trauma.

As my colleague Lauren Ali points out, these sentiments aren't just for Northridge: “My mother's family spans three generations here, and they all have their own traumatic earthquake stories. My grandmother talked a lot about the 1933 Long Beach earthquake (magnitude 6.4). It was the big earthquake that hit My father is the 1971 Sylmar earthquake (6.6 magnitude).

California has not experienced a truly devastating earthquake in an urban area since 1994, so the trauma associated with such shaking has faded from memories.

But not anywhere else.

Earthquake shock is common on major faults around the world

Ruins of the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

(Mark Baker/Associated Press)

Rong Jonglin II, an earthquake expert at The Times, went to Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 for a series on long-lasting faults caused by a massive earthquake there. It found that people were still experiencing loss, horror and anxiety nearly a decade later. Among the results:

Studies of 76,000 earthquake victims estimated that nearly 1 in 4 survivors experienced PTSD. More brain-sedating medications — a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines that include Xanax and Valium — were dispensed after the quake.

What lessons has New Zealand taught California? Take the mental health toll of disasters seriously, check for signs of mental decline in friends and loved ones, seek help for depression and anxiety, and create a shared sense of purpose and positivity. Officials have launched a public awareness campaign aimed at letting people know that it's okay to feel depressed and that help is available. They also tried to help people focus on the strides made in rebuilding the city rather than on the devastation.

Time has helped overcome some of the earthquake anxiety

When I started therapy, I told my psychiatrist that one of the reasons I felt so stressed out was because I was lucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time — repeatedly.

I was visiting my family in Los Angeles when the Whittier Narrows earthquake hit in 1987. I was continuing to work in the Spartan Daily newsroom at San Jose State University when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit Northern California in 1989. Then I was back in Los Angeles when the Northridge earthquake hit.

We talked about my seismic anxiety but quickly moved on to bigger things in my life. My therapist wondered if the earthquake had sparked other long-term issues (being withdrawn, weighing 430 pounds, and struggling to make a career in journalism).

The treatment led me to a diet doctor, to a prescription for Prozac, and eventually to the gym. The phantom earthquakes eventually stopped, but I'm not sure if the therapy, medications, or the treadmill had anything to do with it. I wonder if my mind has just moved on to new worries.

However, some seismic anxiety still haunts me. There are nights when I go to bed certain that 4:31 a.m. will bring me another jolt. Stuck in traffic atop a towering freeway connector, I look down and wonder if all these retrofits will actually save me if this happens when the Big One hits.

Some people say earthquake fears are healthy; They force us to plan, create safer spaces, and make sure seismic equipment is up to date.

maybe.

But there are still many days when I wish I had the luxury of denial.

And of course there's no denying it when you live in earthquake country.

The massive earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria last year, which killed at least 53,000 people, were a grim reminder of what real earthquake trauma looks like. Hassan Moaz was in a Syrian shelter with his 9-year-old son after losing everything in the earthquake. “With any loud sound or movement, he gets scared. “Sometimes when he is sleeping, he wakes up and says, ‘earthquake,’” the father told Reuters last year.

Countries such as the United States, Japan and New Zealand have an advantage due to stronger building codes and earthquake safety programs, experts said. But huge earthquakes will still be devastating, and preparing for them is one of the few things that brings peace of mind.

If reading this newsletter makes you feel anxious, here are some ways you can put it to good use:

Read LA Times guides to earthquake preparedness

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