I try to keep the editorialization to a minimum when I’m posting stuff to the blog but when I saw the story the San Francisco Chronicle had published about last weeks rock slide I was really miffed. I mean, the article sounds more like what a fiction writer would come up than serious journalism. The rockfall, and it was a minor one in the scope of things, sounds like it was a devastating monster that destroyed all of Curry Village and took half of Northern California with it.
Here’s a clip from the article. What do you guys think? Is it a little off the deep end? Post your replies in the comments section on the blog.
SFGate.com: “Dozens of schoolchildren fled the scene screaming and crying as broken rock rained down, snapping trees, smashing through the walls of cabins and sending a plume of dust hundreds of feet in the air.
‘It sounded enormous, like the earthquakes I’ve been in in Los Angeles,’ said Tom Voelpel, a lighting technician from Valencia who was sharing a tent at Curry Village with his twin brother, Dave, in celebration of their 50th birthday. ‘You could hear trees snapping and rocks crunching and cracking against each other.’
The brothers jumped behind the wooden wall of their cabin just as a boulder smashed through the wall, causing it to collapse on top of a nightstand.
‘It was scary,’ said Dave, an artist from Indianapolis who saw one bleeding boy amid the dozens of panic-stricken schoolchildren. ‘I want to go home,’ he said the boy screamed. ‘I’m bleeding!’”
Comments
One response to “Good News or Bad News”
Three people (the one boy mentioned included were injured, and treated locally. Several (7?) tent cabins destroyed, and several wobs damaged badly. I felt the resulting quake before I heard the sound before I heard the rumble, and I’m about a mile away from the impact area.
It was indeed loud, because the rubble rolled down the old Ledge trail. And yes, you can see broken trees on that ledge, and of course the broken trees and smashed tents and cabins in Curry.
Can’t say for sure if the kids were running and screaming; I know they were in the Pavillion having breakfast when it happened. It wouldn’t surprise me, knowing how packs of children feed off each other’s reactions.
Fear played a big part in the responses of the people interviewed. I don’t blame them. When it’s happening, you don’t know how bad it’s going to be, and when it’s over you don’t know if it’s really over.
It’s up to us to facter that in when we read. I think the reporter did his job, which was getting quotes from witnesses. Pretty much everything said was true.
I saw the aftermath; I coughed from the dust cloud as it settled. I saw the rather dazed folks milling about in the parking lot. It was pretty bad.