Berkeley

Loma Prieta Earthquake: 25 Years Later

Published

12 years ago

October 15, 2014

By Steve Hockensmith and Anthony Lazarus, SFSU News

Geologists and engineers aren’t the only ones who learn something from seismic events. Since the major Bay Area quake of 1989, the experts who study how people fare when the ground starts shaking have made adjustments as well.

Take for example the conventional wisdom of taking shelter in a doorway during an earthquake. It has become clear that this is dangerous, according to Gayle Orr-Smith, SF State’s emergency-preparedness coordinator.

“You run the risk of the door swinging closed on you,” she said. “Also there are only so many people who can fit in a doorway. You could get trampled.”

These days, people are advised to get under something, preferably a desk, in the event of an earthquake. Then hang on tight. “Furniture with legs will walk across the room as the shaking goes on,” Orr-Smith explained. “So you could be sitting there thinking you’re safe, and the table will have moved.”

Gayle Orr-Smith

If there isn’t anything to get under, the recommendation is to crouch down and cover the head and neck. It’s also best to stay near a wall, as wreckage tends to fall toward the center of a room. But it is not a good idea to sprint for the exit: Orr-Smith pointed out that most quake injuries occur from falling debris as people try to enter or leave a building.

Her message for anyone thinking about the next big shaker echoes the old Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. “There will never be enough responders to come and give aid,” Orr-Smith said. “If you ask fire departments how much better prepared they are today than they were 25 years ago, they will tell you they have exactly as many pieces of equipment now as then. You’ve got to prepare yourself.” Read more about what to do in an earthquake.

University Police Department Chief Patrick M. Wasley, who has memories of Loma Prieta as a patrolman, agreed. “Have food available, have water available not just at home — at your office too,” he said. “Do simple things like keeping half a tank of gas in your car at all times because the gas pumps depend on electricity, and if there’s an outage, you’re up a creek.

“You can never be 100 percent prepared, but you can certainly mitigate a lot of things by planning ahead,” he remarked.

Of course, there is one thing you can never truly prepare yourself for: the trauma of living through a calamity. Although crisis counseling was around before Loma Prieta in one form or another, its practices have evolved since 1989.

“The standard procedure for doing post-disaster counseling back then was often group debriefing,” said Rebecca Toporek, a professor in the Department of Counseling. “Calling community members together to talk about the event and what their thoughts and reactions were, talking about coping strategies — things like that. That’s changed over time.”

Nowadays, counselors and therapists pay more attention to the many variables that affect both individuals and communities.

“There used to be more of an effort to do broad-scale interventions, whereas now there’s more of a recognition that some people are able to cope relatively well, whether it’s because they have a good safety net in place or they have good coping mechanisms,” she commented. These days, “more effort is put into targeted interventions — finding ways to identify the people who need the most assistance.”

Even with those individuals who need more help, there is a new emphasis on empowerment, seeking to help people recognize and tap into their own resilience. “Sometimes your coping skills are not so obvious when you are in a crisis,” according to Lecturer Ulash Thakore-Dunlap, who teaches SF State’s crisis-counseling course. “Seeing your strength becomes really difficult. Through short-term crisis counseling, we can help you access that.”

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UC Berkeley Named Top Public University in the U.S. and No. 7 in the World by ‘U.S. News’

Berkeley has been consistently awarded the distinction of the U.S.’s top public university since the Best Global Universities list was first published in 2014. “A strong position in the Best Global Universities rankings recognizes a school’s profound commitment to world-class research and cross-border academic excellence,” said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

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Photo by Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley.

The 2026 Best Global Universities rankings evaluated 2,250 research institutions from more than 100 countries

By Lila Thulin

U.S. News & World Report has ranked UC Berkeley No. 7 in its 2026 list of the best global universities, which assesses more than 2,250 research institutions worldwide.

Berkeley also claimed the honor of top public university in the U.S.

Released on Monday, the list evaluates universities from more than 100 countries on 13 metrics such as global and research reputation (as reported by academics and peers) and number of highly cited scholarly papers.

Berkeley has been consistently awarded the distinction of the U.S.’s top public university since the Best Global Universities list was first published in 2014.

“A strong position in the Best Global Universities rankings recognizes a school’s profound commitment to world-class research and cross-border academic excellence,” said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News.

The rankings also assess a university’s strength in various subject areas; these assessments are separate from U.S. News’ 2026 Best Graduate Programs rankings released in April.

This year, Berkeley was named in the top three nationally in seven subject areas – environment/ecology, ecology, water resources, physics, computer science, chemistry, and engineering – and in the top five for a total of 17 subjects. Subject rankings are based heavily on scholarly publications and citations as well as reputation.

In September, U.S. News also released its 2026 Best Colleges list, in which Berkeley was also named the No. 1 public institution among American universities.

That honor joins other accolades judging campus to be the best public university in the country, such as those from Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education.

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Arts and Culture

Farwest Region Deltas Celebrate Centennial With “September Breakfast” Honoring Vivian Osborne Marsh

The region was established in 1925 under the leadership of Vivian Osborne Marsh, who became its first Regional Director. Marsh was a pioneering scholar and civic leader, earning recognition as the first Black woman to receive both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in anthropology from UC Berkeley.

Published

10 months ago

September 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Farwest Regional Director, Kimberly Usher, Mayor Barbara Lee, US Representative Lateefah Simon, and Farwest Regional Representative, Radiya Ajibade. Photo courtesy of Farwest Regional Photographer Vicki P. Love.

By Antoinette Porter

Hundreds of members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and their guests gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union at the University of California, Berkeley, to mark the 100th anniversary of the sorority’s Farwest Region.

Marsh went on to serve as Delta Sigma Theta’s 7th National President, where she launched the sorority’s National Library Project to expand access to books in underserved Black communities in the South. During her presidency, the organization also became a prominent voice in the civil rights movement, lobbying Congress to pass anti-lynching legislation.

Bak in the Bay Area, Marsh devoted her career to advancing educational opportunities, mentoring young people, and strengthening community life. That commitment continues to shape the region, which supports initiatives in education, social justice, and economic development. Current projects include raising scholarship funds for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, voter education campaigns, and health and wellness programs.

A century after its founding, the Farwest Region of Delta Sigma Theta remains active across California and other western states, carrying forward Marsh’s vision of service and advocacy.

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Arts and Culture

Cal Performances Presents Angélique Kidjo & Yo-Yo Ma in Sarabande Africaine at UC Berkeley Greek Theatre on Aug. 30

On Saturday, Aug. 30, the pair will debut the Bay Area premiere of Sarabande Africaine, joined by pianist Thierry Vaton, percussionist David Donatien, and special guest Sinkane. The program illuminates centuries of musical interplay between African traditions and Western classical forms, using the Baroque sarabande dance, and its African ancestor, the Congolese spirit dance Zarabanda, as a gateway to exploring the deep, interconnected roots of global music.

Published

10 months ago

August 25, 2025

Oakland Post

Angelique Kidjo and Yo-Yo Ma. Wikimedia photos.

By Carla Thomas

On Labor Day weekend two of the world’s most celebrated musicians and cultural ambassadors, Grammy Award–winning vocalist Angélique Kidjo and legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma join forces for an evening of music, history, and cultural dialogue at UC Berkeley’s historic Hearst Greek Theatre.

Both Kidjo and Ma have built careers not only as great performers but as passionate advocates for cultural understanding. Sarabande Africaine is as much a conversation about shared heritage as it is a musical performance, blending genres, geographies, and histories.

“Every day there are moments when all of us can feel we are on the inside of something and also when we feel we are on the outside of something,” said Yo-Yo Ma. “To be able to understand both at the same time and oscillate between the two gives us a larger perspective on the world.”

“If your mind is open, and there is no fear, it’s easier to listen, and to question yourself,” said Kidjo.

The upcoming performance is presented within Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” series for the 2025–26 season. The production explores exile as more than just physical displacement, but a disruption in identity and belonging, while sanctuary represents both refuge and the creative space where new connections and communities can take shape.

Cal Performances’ Illuminations bridges performances with UC Berkeley’s academic research, pairing the arts with conversations about urgent global issues.

Kidjo’s continued partnership with Cal Performances includes her 2021–22 artist-in-residence, premiering her music-theater work Yemandja, set in 19th-century West Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.

She also participated in the Bias in Our Algorithms and Society panel alongside campus leaders like Jennifer Chayes, and joined the Black Studies Collaboratory for a dialogue on music, diaspora, and the world.

She has since returned to Berkeley for multiple performances, most recently in 2024 at Zellerbach Hall.

Yo-Yo Ma’s history with Cal Performances spans decades, beginning in 1997. One notable project includes the 2018 performance of Bach’s complete cello suites at the Greek Theatre, a testament to his devotion to creating “transformative concert experiences in iconic spaces.”

For tickets and more information, visit calperformances.org.