Oct. 17 will mark 20 years since the Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed about one-third of downtown Santa Cruz.
Oct. 17 will mark 20 years since the Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed about one-third of downtown Santa Cruz. To mark the event, a local filmmaker has gone back to the original photos of the damage to show how the town has recovered since then. She paired the photos with contemporary photographs of how different sites looks today, and added oral histories from shopkeepers and local residents to create a comprehensive multimedia presentation about how Santa Cruz recovered since the disaster. Called “New Downtown: How 15 Seconds and Twenty Years Changed Downtown Santa Cruz,” the project was half a year in the making as part of Elizabeth Shemaria’s master’s degree thesis. Her concern is that 20 years after the quake, people have already forgotten how it impacted their city and their lives. Six people died in the quake, including two at the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co. Another 300 were injured, and an estimated 3,000 were left homeless.
