Here's mine... I was living in Stockton, California. Myself and my roommate were sitting on the couch when it hit. He said "this is a big one". I said "yes". We could not do anything but wait it out as the ground rolled and cracked, things crashed in our home, some cars slid a bit. We just hung on and stared out the window until it was done. The aftershocks were quite impressive as well. Afterwards we went neighbor to neighbor as we all checked on each other... nobody was harmed. There were some banged up cars and there was some structural damage. Power was out so I called the Dojang (phone lines were up)... the Dojang's was up and my Master had a television. Myself and my roommate drove there to watch the footage along with the rest of my quanmates, my Master, and a bunch of friends and family in stunned silence. I was working in a glass factory at the time. Luckily for me, I worked 3rd shift. Also luckily the 'quake hit during lunch break for 2nd shift and this factory was VERY strict about safety. After all, a glass factory in California had to be. Only one pallet came down when the strapping snapped and nobody was severely hurt... just minor to moderate cuts and bruises. One of the lines to the machines broke, however, and the resulting fumes forced them to evacuate part of the factory. I had friends in 'Frisco and spent days worrying about them as footage came out of 'Frisco. One of the most moving things was that the street people and tough guys wanted to help with the 880 but were sent away by the rescue crews due to the danger. Another moving thing was footage of a hooker who was directing what traffic they had. All of the police were busy, streetlights were out, and she had volunteered. The thing that got me about that quake was how the San Franciscans pulled together to help each other rather than attacking each other. I sweated bullets until my friends in 'Frisco could call me to say they were alive and OK. I said many prayers of thanks that it happened during the World Series because, had it not, the deaths on the 880 would have been staggering. I cannot remember the name of the fellow who survived 5 days trapped in his car, was carried out on a stretcher smiling and giving a thumbs up. He died suddenly a few days later.

I live in Southern California (Orange County), but I just happened to be in the Bay Area on that date (I think it was Oct '89?). I was at a conference just north of San Francisco, and the speaker suddenly stopped talking as the audience gasped aloud at the ground moving. As a veteran of many earthquakes, I recognized the slow rolling as a sign that we were not on the epicenter, and that it was a big one... but many of the audience were from around the country or the world, and had never experienced an earthquake before. It was interesting to watch their faces! The facility hosting the event added people to man the phones, and started calling around the world to let friends and relatives know that we were alright. When it was time to leave (about 48 hours later), I had to drive entirely around the city -- well off my usual route -- because of all the road closures. So I didn't see the damage in the city first hand.