LOS ANGELES -- Cheryl Tigner grew up in the hillside suburb of Sylmar, atop the San Andreas fault, so she understands earthquake risks better than most.
And she went through the Feb. 9, 1971, quake that was centered in Sylmar. "But I figured I had the odds in my favor," the 31-year-old saleswoman for American Express says.
"I used to joke with people that lightning never strikes twice in the same place. I really believed that."
That common attitude crumbled with Monday's 6.6 quake. Precisely the same magnitude as the 1971 shaker, Monday's quake struck just south of Sylmar, along the Oak Ridge fault, again victimizing the area.
Most veterans here say this one was worse. Although the 1971 quake killed 62 and caused $ 1 billion in damage, displacing 80,000 people for three days in the process, the jolt this time felt more violent.
"No comparison," Charlie Lugo says. "I felt both, and I'm telling you right now that I never felt nothing like what I felt Monday morning."
Other than Northridge, where this quake was centered, Sylmar was the hardest-hit spot in Los Angeles.
Thousands of homes are cracked or off their foundations. One mobile home park lost 50 units to fire. Damage to possessions may range in the tens of millions. Many people will go weeks without water.
Then there's the psychological damage.
"I appreciate the sympathy we've been drawing," Joy McKinzie, 37, says. "But I'm not comforted by the idea that we're starting to be thought of as the earthquake capital of the West."
Colleen Powell, 54, fought with her husband when he wanted to move to Sylmar 13 years ago.
"He told me Sylmar's already had its quake," she says. "So there I am
The alternative for some is to stay in Sylmar but better fortify themselves against earthquakes.
Case in point: Renee Stevens, 20. All seven buildings in her apartment complex were condemned Tuesday, so she's taking her husband and daughter to live with Mom and Dad.
"Then I'm going to save up for a house here," she says. "I'll feel safer. I don't think I could go through another earthquake in an apartment."
Because so many people know the risks of living here, few complain.
Lacking food, water, power and phones, they stand quietly in block-long lines waiting for a ration of water. They doze under tents staked on park lawns. They sit in Red Cross cafeterias patiently waiting for their next meals.
As for Tigner, she'll stay. She bought her $ 113,000 mobile home 3 1/2 years ago. It was severely damaged in the quake. And with property values down anyway, she figures she can't afford to move.
"I guess I'll just fix the place and stay," she says. "Thankfully, I wasn't a complete fool. I didn't think lightning would strike in the same place twice, but at least I bought earthquake insurance."
