LOST
ANGELES
April 20, 1998. 5:13 PM
A Los Angeles
coming home
from
work was devastated when an earthquake measuring
10.5 on 
the
Richter scale hit like the hand of an angry
god punishing his
children.
Tsunami's generated by the quake consisting of 200
foot waves engulfed
the city. The one place in America that had
been expecting....
almost
anticipating this event was completely unprepared
for the magnitude of
destruction which was wrecked upon it.
Hitting in the middle
of
rush
hour traffic, which like always in LA, meant a
complete standstill, the
quake caught the city at the worst possible
time. Overpasses and
bridges that were packed to the brim collapsed,
buildings toppled into
each other and at the epicenter and the 15 miles
surrounding it, the
land
itself actually dropped 20 feet as the fault line
violently
broke.
The first aftershock hit 5 minutes after, exploding
gas lines,
rupturing
water mains, and exposing underground electric
lines, and of course
destroying
even more property. Their were five more
massive aftershocks in
30
minutes and by the time they were finished LA was
unrecognizable.
Roads were completely blocked off, communication was
all but dead,
fires
were breaking out all over, and the survivors were
panicking.
Nothing
could be mobilized, no relief or rescue was
possible, not that there
was
time for that anyway. Within minutes
satellites were registering
waves cresting
at 200 feet bearing straight for the city. No
warning could be
given
and 20 minutes after the quake, just as the
survivors were getting
their
wits about them....... the waves hit and the "City
of Angels" was
swallowed
by the sea. A week and a half after the quake
the smell of the
dead
was noticeable for 15 miles, the smoke from fires
still raging could be
seen for twice that.
By the time it was all
over,
35% of Los Angeles was a watery graveyard. An
estimated 65,000
lives
snuffed out in an instant. To LA's credit,
advances made in quake
resistant construction paid off. And the
majority of
skyscrapers
and large office buildings remained standing, albeit
barely. For
the next week, every available
aircraft in California and the three states
surrounding converged on
Los
Angeles for the largest rescue/evacuation in
history.
Access
by land was next to impossible, even in the areas
that were still dry,
due to toppled buildings, fires, and wreckage.
Submerged, but
exposed
power lines made rescue by boat almost as
impossible.
Firefighters
set to putting out the flames engulfing the area of
Los Angeles that
was
still above sea level, but when it was all said and
done, LA was broken
beyond repair and was completely written off.
The water never
receded,
and
after everyone that could had been evacuated the
area was sealed off
completely,
leaving over three million Angelino's homeless and
starving. The
economic loss was estimated at 250 billion dollars,
although it was
most
likely far greater, as the federal reserve and a
vast number of banks
were
unsalvageable. The President officially
declared it a "No Man's
Land"
2 months after the incident in a worldwide press
conference.
Not that salvage
operations
weren't
attempted, but the current of the water, combined
with the many unknown
dangers both above and beneath the water made it
impossible.
And due to the
nature of the
ruins, the only thing that even had a chance of
safely navigating the
waters
were small boats. All salvage attempts were
cancelled and
civilians
restricted from the area.
The ruins became known as Lost Angeles. A 50 foot wall was erected over the next two years codoning off the ruins, as the surviving area of LA was rebuilt into what is now known as the LA Metroplex. A small memorial center was built at the base of an overpass that collapsed. The remaining portion of the overpass extends over the walls and a half mile above the destroyed city. It provides the best view of the ruins, and is open to the public as a staunch reminder of mother natures wrath.
LOST
ANGELES TODAY
LIFE
IN LA
INHABITANTS
THE
CLANS
SALVAGE
AND TRADE
WILDLIFE
AND HAZARDS
NAVIGATION
Lost
Angeles was written
by Deric Bernier, based on an Idea presented
in Cyberpunk 2020, and was
written for use
with
the game Cyberpunk
2020
by R. Talsorian. Images from the film
Akira, Waterworld, unknown
photographers,unknown anime artist, and Deric
Bernier.
If
you have any comments,
questions, suggestions or complaints, please
send them to me at wisdom000@gmail.com