Two of the strongest earthquakes ever to hit California struck the
desert area east of Los Angeles on June 28, 1992. Although the
state sits upon the immense San Andreas fault line, relatively few
major earthquakes have hit California in modern times. Two of the strongest, but not the deadliest, hit southern California on a single morning in the summer of 1992.

Just before 5 a.m. on a Sunday morning, a 7.2-magnitude quake
struck in Landers, 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Because the
Landers area is sparsely populated, damage was relatively minor
given the intensity of the jolt.

In Los Angeles, residents experienced rolling and shaking for
nearly a minute. The tremors were also felt in Arizona, Las Vegas
and as far away as Boise, Idaho.

Just over three hours later, a second 6.3-magnitude tremor hit in
Big Bear, not too far from the original epicenter. This quake caused
fires to break out and cost three people their lives. A chimney fell
on a 3-year-old child and two people suffered fatal heart attacks.

Between the two quakes, 400 people were injured and $92 million
in damages were suffered.

At 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the
Richter scale hit San Francisco, CA, killing an estimated 3,000
people as it toppled numerous buildings. The quake was caused
by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275
miles long, and shock waves could be felt from southern
Oregon down to Los Angeles.

TIM MAGUIRE

BRIAN THOMAS

Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)

Charles Lindbergh was a aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and
activist. At age 25 in 1927, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot
to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize for making a
nonstop flight from New York to Paris.

An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale hit the San
Francisco Bay  area in California. The quake caused about 67
deaths, 3,000 injuries, and damages up to $7 billion.