Dartmouth Woman: ‘Very Scary’ Experience in California Quakes
ANAHEIM, CA — A Dartmouth woman and her family say they’re terrified after experiencing the two strong earthquakes that hit southern California over the past couple of days.
Christine Lebeau Oliveira, a guidance counselor for Fairhaven Public Schools, tells WBSM’s Barry Richard that her family had traveled to San Diego about 10 days ago to watch her 12-year-old daughter play in a national soccer tournament. She says the family decided to turn the soccer trip into an extended vacation.
On Thursday, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck the Los Angeles area – the largest temblor in the region in two decades. On Friday, an even stronger 7.1 magnitude quake hit Kern County.
Oliveira says her family was enjoying a trip to Disneyland when the first quake struck, but the second one was “much worse.”
“[It was] very scary. We actually felt the one yesterday, but tonight was much worse,” said Oliveira.
“I’m dying to get out of here- very strange feeling! We are on the 5th floor of a hotel and we all ran outside. My 12-year-old is very scared.”
Oliveira says her family took a 6:00 a.m. flight home Saturday. Her daughter plays for a national club soccer team, the ECNL Scorpions, based out of Taunton.
News reports out of southern California have indicated extensive damage to areas closest to the epicenters, with cracked roadways and buildings paired with broken gas and water lines, structure fires, power outages, and landslides occurring on major highways. Multiple fires and injuries have also been reported.