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A Big One Catches DSN Reporter Clothes-Shopping at Nordstrom

I had just spent nine hours at the San Jose Convention Center covering the Scan-Tech meeting for DSN: listening to an informative talk by "Wall Street Week's" Louis Rukeyser, walking the show, and attending a seminar where Wal-Mart's warehouse systems project manager Ron Moser spoke on radio frequency data communications.

Looking through the phone book, I found there was a regional mall - Valley Fair - close by, so I decided to stop by there before returning to my hotel. A Nordstrom fan since I encountered the chain in Washington state, I headed to this store first. It must have been about 4:45 p.m.

The store was typically busy, I went up to the third floor and found some clothes to try on in the Brass Plum department. It now had to be pretty close to 5 p.m.

I slipped out of one outfit and tried on a pair of acidwashed Levi's and a bright purple and pink stripped long sleeve T-shirt.

Then at 5:04 p.m., the building started to shake. I looked up at the ceiling. At first I didn't think it was an earthquake. I thought maybe it was someone working on the roof or a sonic boom.

The shaking got worse. Now I knew it was an earthquake. Ceiling panels started to fall - on my head. My mind ran through the list of things you're supposed to do during an earthquake. But there was no desk to crawl under or a stable doorway to stand under, so I just put my arms over my head.

I didn't think it could, but the quake got stronger. I was leaning against the back wall and now I slid onto a corner seat; my arms were still over my head, and I leaned over a bit, resting my elbows on my thighs. (A day after the quake I noticed that I had a big bruise on each thigh just above my knees where my elbows dug into my legs.)

Although later reports said the earthquake lasted for only 15 seconds, it seemed much longer. As the building continued to shake, lots of thoughts raced through my head. Only ceiling panels were falling on me, but I knew that if it got any worse, a lot more would start crashing down. The lights went out. There were no windows; it was pitch black. I reminded myself that a generator would kick in, and emergency lights would come on. They did.

The shaking finally stopped.

I started to come out of the dressing room area, I really don't remember seeing my surroundings. I guess I was in shoc[. A man called out and said for everyone to leave the store. I wasn't sure what to do. I went back to my dressing room. Should I change back into my clothes? The man repeated his statement to leave. I decided I should just get out, so I sifted through the debris on the floor, found and slipped on my shoes, and grabbed my purse and dress.

This time as I left my dressing room I noticed everything. The door to the dressing room across from mine was hanging by one hinge. Some of the dressing room walls had fallen over. A thick layer of dust coated everything, including me. At the entrance to the dressing room area there had been about twenty 8-by-10 framed photos of the department's sales force; most of them were scattered across the floor and broken glass was everywhere.

Out on the main selling floor, displays had fallen over, a ceiling sprinkler line had burst and water was spraying onto the floor - it looked like a scene from a disaster movie. There was also hardly anyone in the store, which was very eerie, the store had been busy only seconds before.

The man, apparently a plain clothes security person, again said to leave. I called back that I had their clothes on. He said it didn't matter, just leave. So I practically flew down the escalators, noticing the other floors were also a mess but relatively empty of people.

Outside someone was on the ground and being attended to, I couldn't tell if she was hurt. A lot of people were standing around not saying much. I tried brushing off the dust; it was on the clothes, in my hair, and I could feel it on my face.

Then an aftershock hit, I don't know which one it was or how strong, but we all felt it. We had been standing by the mall entrance and overhead was an open grid-work structure attached to the mall. Light fixtures inside the grids started to swing. Everyone decided it was time to leave.

I looked at the tags hanging from the clothes I had on, and wondered what I was supposed to do with them. They weren't letting anyone back in the store, and I decided they had enough damage to worry about without being concerned about a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, so I got in the car and left.

When I made it back to my hotel, after several attempts, I finally reached my parents by phone. It was about 6 p.m. now. They were glad I was all right. My mom said not to worry about the clothes, that they were my compensation for having survived the quake. But it was too bad, she joked, that I didn't have on an expensive sequin dress instead of jeans and a T-shirt.

PHOTO : On firmer ground: Pam relaxes in her quake outfit.