EASTER 7.2 EARTHQUAKE: I was in front of the controversial Heraeus Chemical Plant (Cerritos, Santa Fe Springs) in my car when it HIT. How ironic, how scary, how SURREAL!

Image via Wikipedia

Hereaus is a manufacturing plant located at the corner of Alondra Boulevard
and Carmenita Road on the Cerritos/Santa Fe Springs boarder.
Randy Economy Photo

By Randy Economy
April 4, 2010
10:50 p.m.
Cerritos, CA

Today Southern California and the Mexico area was rocked by a 7.2 earthquake. 

It is now known as the "Easter Earthquake."

While the exact toll of the damage are still unknown in the Mexicali area, it has already claimed the life of at least one person, and scores are injured, and buildings are flattened, just "South of the Boarder."

When the earthquake rocked Sunday afternoon at around 4 p.m., I happened to be in my car at the corner of Carmenita Road and Alondra Boulevard.

Last year Hereaus was the center of a national controversy here when the USA Today wrongly named Cerritos the most "Toxic City in America" and listed Hereaus as the main cause of our rotten local air quality.

During the public outcry on this "faulty" USA Today study, I spoke out on many occasions, and warned what would happen to our community if this plant would was involved in a "7.3 or 6.9" earthquake?

When this 7.3 earthquake hit, I was 50 feet from the Hereaus plant, and the smoke stacks were blasting white steam into the blue afternoon skies. 

I was terrified, and drove quickly away west on Alondra Boulevard to pick my friend Martin in Granada Park here in Cerritos.  The last place you want to be during an earthquake is right next to a manufacturing plant that contains tons of toxic materials and chemicals.

While the epicenter was more than 150 miles to the south of Cerritos and Santa Fe Springs, today was a wake up call for all of us in this part of the world.

I hope that all of our local industrial businesses, like Hereaus and others in the 5 Freeway/Firestone Boulevard area are prepared for a 7.2 earthquake.  I hope that inspectors can recheck the conditions of these plants, over and over again and to make sure that they are safe for a 7.2 earthquake.

It is just a matter of time. 

The bigger one is on the way.

Your thoughts?  Hit my comment section, or drop me a note to RREconomy@aol.com.

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