Northridge : Video Traces CSUN Earthquake Recovery

With portable classrooms still dotting the campus two years after an earthquake that caused an estimated $350 million in damages, Cal State Northridge will present a documentary Tuesday that examines the quake’s lingering effects, the university has announced.

Produced by Sue Ellen Hirschfeld, a professor of geology at Cal State Hayward, the 46-minute program, “Academic Aftershocks,” will be beamed simultaneously to all but a few Cal State campuses.

“What we’re going to do is broadcast the video and have each campus discuss [it],” Hirschfeld said from her Hayward office.

The film traces the quake’s impact from day one through the first 18 months of CSUN’s recovery and features interviews with administrators such as President Blenda J. Wilson and Provost Louanne Kennedy.

The goal, Hirschfeld explained, is to illustrate the quake’s long-term effects at CSUN and to help other Cal State campuses prepare for similar disasters.

“Most people at my university have no idea what happened and how long it takes to recover,” she said.

The project began after Hirschfeld traveled to CSUN shortly after the Jan. 17, 1994, quake to document damage and gather anecdotes from survivors. Soon after, with a $100,000 grant from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she enlisted two partners, Gail Lundholm and Sarah Nathe, and returned to the campus to further chronicle its recovery on videotape.

“When I came back from Northridge, my life was changed,” she said.

The documentary will be shown at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Room 2 of the Oviatt Library’s basement level. The free event is open to the public.

Copies of the documentary may purchased for $15 from the Assn. of Bay Area Governments at (510) 464-7900.