In Santa Paula, the switchboard at the police department lit up with 911 emergency calls asking about the earthquake. Personnel of the Santa Paula Fire Department, like all others in Ventura County, drove fire engines and other equipment out of the stations until an all clear was given. Various city employees were dispatched to check the city to make sure there was no significant quake damage.Businesses also felt the quake: "There was one employee in the cooler when the earthquake hit who was pretty scared," Vivian Sotelo of Ultramar located on Main Street said Saturday. "Everybody that's been coming in here today is talking about it, that's all anyone is talking about. . .even the people who said they slept through it!"
Early morning earthquake awakens Santa Paulans as 7.0 temblor hits state
October 20, 1999
Santa Paula News
A 7.0 earthquake deep in the Mojave Desert near Twenty-Nine Palms shook Santa Paulans awake early Saturday in what was described over Ventura County police scanners as a moderately felt earthquake.
The trembler hit at 2:46 a.m. and in Santa Paula felt like firm rocking at the hands of a persistent - and somewhat demented - nanny. The earthquake lasted over 30 seconds, causing some buildings to groan, scattered car alarms to activate and wind chimes dancing, still hitting musical notes long after the deep rolling motion had subsided.No serious injuries were reported, due said seismologists to the remote and sparsely populated area location where the earthquake struck - within the borders of a Marine base - the reason also for the minimal damage. An Amtrak train derailed near Ludlow due to the quake, slightly injuring four passengers.Dubbed the Hector Mine earthquake by the U.S. Geological Survey after a desert mining site, the earthquake was three times stronger than the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.The earthquake was felt as far away as Arizona and Nevada and rattled even Baja California. The top floors of the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim were evacuated briefly although many patrons decided they would spend the rest of the night in the lobby.
