In the days after the March 11, 1933, earthquake, scientists rushed to figure out the epicenter. Four days later, scientists had determined the quake centered two miles off the coast of Newport Beach.
“Forces of men were busy today cleaning up debris from damaged buildings in [Newport Beach] as the aftermath of the Friday earthquake and recurrent tremors,” according to a March 12, 1933, article in the Los Angeles Times. “Despite the damage, estimated at between $25,000 to $35,000 in the business district, most of the stores were doing business as usual for the benefit of Sunday visitors.”
In Costa Mesa, media reported engineers were examining Costa Mesa High School after the quake had damaged a nearby elementary school.
While the first quake was the biggest, for nearly a day Southern Californians were on edge, as a story the day after the quake described.
“Southern California gave thought and lamentation to its dead yesterday, but the sorrow was only in its consciousness,” an article in the Los Angeles Times read. “While its hardy and undaunted citizens turned their active energies into a vast cooperative effort to care for the injured, relieve the homeless and destitute, clear away the wreckage and rebuild on the ruins left by a series of earthquakes which started with a sharp pulsation ... and continued with abating vigor for 20 hours.”
The effects were seen for months. Not only was there the death and destruction of the Newport-Inglewood fault line quake, but researches actually determined the shaker lowered the sea bed between the coast and Catalina Island.
And that change, a lowered sea bed, led to concerns in October when strong tides and high waves pounded beachfront homes and forced residents to move their stilted residences up to 100 feet inland.
The quake was the third major quake on the Newport-Inglewood fault line in a century.
Reporter JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.
