Urban search and rescue in the Santa Cruz area following the Loma Prieta earthquake.

Includes bibliographical references

At 5:04 p.m., Tuesday, October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the Santa Cruz area with a force that measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter was reported to be near the Loma Prieta Mountain, 10 miles northeast of Santa Cruz and 60 miles southeast of San Francisco. The earthquake caused 64 confirmed fatalities, more than 3,750 reported injuries, and property damage estimates in excess of $7 billion. More than 23,500 buildings were destroyed. The building collapses, other structural collapses, and subsequent fires were primarily focused in the San Francisco/Monterey Bay area, including the upper deck of the two-tiered Interstate 88 which collapsed onto its lower deck for a distance of 1.5 miles. One hundred and sixteen people were injured in this road collapse and 42 were killed. Following the earthquake, considerable attention was given to the assessment of emergency response and management in the form of after-action reports and surveys by local, state, and federal agencies. Primarily, these reports focused on the events in San Francisco and Oakland. While these populations and media centers were severely damaged and suffered dramatic losses, other areas experienced similar devastations and initially responded with far fewer resources at their disposal. The purpose of this report is to highlight the lessons learned during the emergency responses in the smaller, but equally affected communities which had fewer immediate resources available to them