LOS ANGELES TIMES SPECIAL REPORT : IMAGES OF THE NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE : Shaken

Night. Silence. Then the shaking began, 11 miles deep in the ground. In an instant, the tremors burst from the earth like a malevolent spirit escaping from some infernal region of myth and nightmare.

Later, the experts would say the quake lasted only 10 seconds, but in the quivering hearts of survivors, it seemed far longer. Instead of fading after the first violent spasms, the shaking intensified its destructive work, snapping thick, steel beams on freeways like bread sticks, crushing apartment buildings and, above all, rewriting the future of Los Angeles.