 The San Fernando Valley, 6 a.m., February 9th, almost another day. Most of Los Angeles is still asleep. The late shift is about to call it a night. The early riser is already on the freeways, heading for work. Captain Bill Howell of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Arthur Mickelson and Milton Gahn, two technicians in a pickup truck, heading out just before dawn to install a microwave relay station in the mountains. 6 o'clock, another day. It came just before dawn. A massive shock rippling out of the mountains just north of the San Fernando Valley. Hitting here, missing there. But shaking most of Southern California, like an angry parent shakes a screaming child, at Parker Center, downtown headquarters for the Los Angeles police. Unit 2A17, we're not reading you. Change your location and rebroadcast. Next door, the city's nerve center for all disaster operations. The emergency control center is swinging into action. Police Chief Davis, Commander Kinsling, Bill Frank, the Los Angeles Civil Defense Coordinator. Sounds like we got trouble everywhere. Yeah, but keep sleeping the bands. The quiet spot, that'll be the place that's hardest hit. No one knows it yet. But the quiet spot, the place hardest hit, lies at the northern end of the valley, in a suburb called Silmar, and the little city of San Fernando. The shocks magnified enormously here. Gas mains are exploding, broken sewer lines bubbling in the streets, ruin running through the heart of town. The first to arrive at San Fernando City Hall near Paul Macy and Marguerite Moran Civil Defense. Outside, the building looks unharmed. Inside. Others are rallying. Police, rescue units, the first volunteers. But San Fernando's in deep, deep trouble. Our generator's been knocked out, it's caused out. We're gonna have to use this as an emergency command post. So messages are going to come from the desk out here to you. What we want to do is set up an emergency command both on the mall, seal the whole mall off, so have units 24, 25 and 26, cover the mall area. Units 24, 25, 26, cover the mall. Be aware of looters. No one knows how extensive the damage is. But quickly, volunteer rescue teams are being organized, moving out to search the ruins. In downtown Los Angeles, state civil defense, the California Office of Emergency Services is swinging into action. Already, the news is clicking out to the state capitol in Sacramento and to Washington, D.C. The President's Office of Emergency Preparedness, the agency responsible for coordinating all federal assistance in time of major disaster. Governor Reagan, I'm calling for the President. He has told me to be sure that all federal resources that can be used are gotten on the ground immediately. We'll be helping you in every way we can. Here, let's move out right now. I want you down there as soon as possible. The situation's still unclear. But obviously, serious enough for George Lincoln, the director, to begin mobilizing disaster specialists from all over the country, dispatched top aides from Washington to the scene. I will call the vice president and tell him the situation, suggest that we go on out tomorrow morning and I'll probably be with him. Yes, sir. I'll get started right away. In the Pentagon, the director of the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, John E. Davis, offers full support. All right. Find out what they need and get it to them. On Mount Lee, high in the Hollywood Hills, rescue trucks from the Civil Defense Training Center are starting down the mountain. Downtown, police are cordoning off the danger points. Golden State and San Diego freeways to the north are in a state of collapse. This is where Captain Howell barely escaped with his life and the two men in the pickup truck didn't. Fires everywhere. The fire department's communication center. Emergency calls are funneling in from everywhere, except the northern valley. Respond on a possible heart attack. One, 55, 89, prior. But now, the first word from Silmar leaks through. City. Right. What? Okay. Cap, the, all of you senatoriums they say they've got about 500 people they need to evacuate. We'll send them everything we have in the area. Olive View. A brand new $40 million hospital dedicated just six months ago. This tremendous explosion. The whole room was just teetering. Well, when I walked out of the room, the whole wing had fallen off. You look down five floors. Three are dead. The rest of the patients being hastily evacuated. Hold your head down. You're just shook and shook and shook and the wall just opened up. It scared those, you know, out of me. What did you do after that? I ran to my bed and popped on it and grabbed ahold of it and held on. That's all I could do. Now helicopters are fanning out to find out what else has happened to the valley. There's a pretty good loop up out there in the west. Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Long. Let's check the Veterans Hospital out first before we go into Olive View. The tragedy centered here. At San Fernando Veterans Hospital, long known as the garden spot of the whole Veterans Administration System, two central buildings have collapsed, burying nearly a hundred patients and members of the staff under a crashing concrete roof. Doctors and nurses are pulling victims out of the ruins, digging bare-handed at the rubble, trying to free the rest. At 7.24, Chief Long's helicopter sets down on the lawn and a staff doctor runs out to meet him to make construction equipment to cut through the concrete roof. Luckily, it's close at hand. In Taihanga Canyon, the Army Corps of Engineers has a construction crew working on a special project for the Office of Emergency Preparedness. Within an hour, it's been moved to Veterans. The digging out begins. Another crisis. In Norman Dam, the huge reservoir in the northern hills, the concrete roadway across the tops collapsed. The earth wall behind it crumbling fast. We're going to need some additional help on filling sandbags. 11 million tons of water. Enough to start another Johnstown flood and 80,000 people living in the valley just below. A decision has to be made. And soon. That wind doesn't change that dam. Some are willing. I started worrying when I saw the first broadcast what was left of the dam. Two feet of mud is not enough. Others less so. You mean you're standing here in the dam right above your house? Let me take a chance. I have a boat in the garage too. I think I'll pull that out. Just in case. You never know. And soon, everyone's moving out. Taking the dogs with you? I believe it. You're pretty good talkers. You ready? For the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County too disaster response is a sophisticated large-scale operation. Both have enormous resources to call on. Modern equipment. Good communications. Thousands of firemen, police other trained professionals. For little San Fernando civil defense is something else. A handful of city employees and a disaster plan depending largely on volunteer help from groups like Red Cross, Salvation Army, the citizens emergency mobile patrol. And now, the radio hands. They've found the dead spot on their dials are moving in to fill it. Since early morning San Fernando's been cut off from the world. But now, communications are being restored and the first phone call goes downtown to the office of emergency services. We're just dead. No water, no sanitation, communications, nothing. We can use any kind of mutilate you can send. We're on our knees. Now, people are flying in to help with the job. From Sacramento, Herbert Temple of the governor's staff. And from Washington, D.C. Daryl Trent, deputy director of the office of emergency preparedness. Hi, Terry. Hi, Daryl. What's the current situation? It's not too good. We've got two major problems. One is the possible collapse of the Van Norman Dam and the fact that the blessings administration hospital is falling in on patients. Probably the most damaging situation we have right now is the Van Norman Dam because there are continuing aftershocks and this could break. How long will it take to get the water out? They're now projecting 72 hours. What about the people under the Van Norman Dam? We figured it's probably going to have to come out. The lip cross has moved in and they're setting up about six emergency shelters in the area in schools and gymnasiums and not dorms but a great deal of them will probably be absorbed by friends and relatives in the area. What about the veterans hospital? Are we sure they have everything they need? We probably need some helicopter evacuation and we've already taken steps to get that moving. He's tagged now. He's got tagged down here on the foot and I'm taking his wristwatch. Reagan's arrived from Sacramento and rescue crews have just uncovered a pocket where some of the kitchen workers are tracked. There's a woman by the name of Helen in there. That's my mother. That's the one they've been talking to. Well, they've been talking to her. Apparently she says that she's all right. Yeah. But they thought that Grace was beside her but she couldn't see her. Well, from all indications, Carmen says that she seems to be all right. She's even asked for a glass of water. That's typical of her. Now wait. Just a minute and I'll get my leg out of the way. Okay. That's an awful nice leg right now. Let me get up a little ways. This pipe on your left, you can stand up. There she comes. You want to go back? No. That's all right. There's about seven foot down there. When the light comes in, we can still see. Oh, that's okay. You don't need that. How do you feel, Helen? Come on. Yeah. Here's your daughter, honey. Here's your daughter, Helen. It's okay. Good thing it's good. Sit down now. Just bend your knees. Hold her. Where's Heidi? Heidi's with Jim. No, he took her with her. It's all right. It's okay. Day turns into night. Night into nightmare. In San Fernando, volunteers are patrolling the wreckage on the mall. And in the shelters, evacuees are settling down for the night. I'm tired. I'm going home. The second day, Air Force Two sweeps into Los Angeles airport, bringing the vice president and George Lincoln, director of the office of emergency preparedness to survey the damage. I just talked to President Nixon less than a half an hour ago after I finished the briefing session and he's terribly concerned. He was in an earthquake himself. He happened to be going to Whittier College in 1933 when the Long Beach earthquake occurred. And of course, he remembers very well the collapse of the high school auditorium there, the damage to the grade school, and he said, you don't want to be in another one if you've been in one. Already, the presidents proclaimed the earthquake zone a major disaster area with all agencies of the federal government directed to render maximum assistance. Downtown, both state and federal people are working hard to deliver it. And a new Disaster Relief Act just signed by the president has given them new tools to work with. Federal assistance is no longer limited to helping restore essential community services. Now it's been broadened to bring relief to individuals, the disaster victims as well. And six one-stop disaster assistance centers are being set up, where they can go to find it. Primary housing, rent free for those in direst need. Aid on mortgages and rents for others in danger of losing their damaged homes. Legal services, liberalized small business and farmers' home loans. Unemployment insurance, re-employment aid for those whose jobs have been wiped out. Food stamps and surplus foods for the hungry. Help in removing debris from private property. San Fernando's still on its knees. No water. No water? None. No water, no gas. Any water at your house? It's not good at all. Terrible. At least in that night I said I came all the way here to get some water, but it's terrible. Already a call's gone in to Joseph Quinn, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, asking if San Fernando can borrow from the city's water system. Now go ahead and hook them up. Do whatever you can to help. We'll worry about the legal question later. And downtown. What are we doing about the situation? The Corps of Engineers are already moving in, sir. We are laying temporary water and sewage lines right down the center of the street. Now helps arriving from another source. The Civil Air Patrol. It's heard of San Fernando's flight. And rescue, air supply and communications units from wings all over Southern California are pouring in to lend a hand till the emergency's over. Gradually, the town's gaining ground. The evacuation center has been set up with San Fernando Recreation Park. Two major relief centers have been set up in San Fernando by Salvation Army in the downtown area. Red Cross in the stricken Mexican-American section. To supply food, clothing, shelter. Another night in shelter. Van Norman's still too full for safety. And the natives are getting restless. Well, here we'll be able to return home until at least tomorrow. Have you heard that? No, I hadn't heard that. That's horrible. Ma, are you having to stay another night? Yes, because I want to go home. There's no place like home. Continual aftershocks are keeping everyone nervous on edge. And the Emergency Control Center at police headquarters is being overloaded with calls. To relieve the strain, a citizen's information center is set up by Civil Defense in the public works hearing room at Los Angeles City Hall. In a way, California's been lucky. It's been a medium-sized quake, even minor, compared to what could happen someday. But if the shock had come a few hours later in the morning when schools were full and freeways crowded, the death toll might have reached the thousands instead of 65. But more than 30 schools in Los Angeles alone will have to be demolished and replaced. The freeways rebuilt. A billion dollars worth of damage repaired. For the federal government, it means a record-breaking expenditure under the New Disaster Relief Act. Nearly half a billion to restore essential services and help people get back on their feet. And a long way to go before it's done. At Veterans Hospital, rescue workers are into their 59th hour. The last live victim to be pulled out of the wreckage, Frank Carbonara, a 68-year-old baker on the kitchen staff is rushed to the hospital. His anxious family brought to his side. Did you ever get up any hope? Yes, I did. How do you feel now? Nervous and shaky. You weren't related? Yes, my father. Did you ever get up any hope? I'm afraid we did last night. Did you? Yes, he's been in there for 59 hours and he has such an inflexema and we were really worried it was dusty and he ran around in Chicago. I guess he's just a strong man. I don't know. What did he think about when he was down there? Frank, what did you think about when you were down there? What were you thinking of when you were down in there? I was good. Now, finally, the pumps have done their job. Going home. But often, to things like this. Still, now that you've lived through it all, how do you feel? I don't think little trivial things are going to matter with the dam anymore. Going home. And so, in a different way, are the 36 patients and 10 members of the staff lost at Veterans Hospital. A final service for old soldiers who aren't supposed to die but only fade away.