Clocks at Olive View hospital in Sylmar stopped at 6:01 am on Feb. 9, 1971. That's when the Valley was shaken awake by a 6.6-magnitude earthquake that began under the mountains behind Sylmar. When the shaking stopped sixty seconds later, parts of that hospital and the San Fernando Valley Veterans Hospital (also in Sylmar) had fallen, the lower dam at Van Norman Reservoir threatened to fail and a visible ground rupture extended for twelve miles. Sixty-five people died, and the Valley had a new reputation to contend with.

Media coverage of today's anniversary is all over the map on both the magnitude and the number of deaths. I go with the record used by the Southern California Earthquake Data Center.

Daily News remembers
Times remembers
Feb. 9, 1971

Added: Baseball blogger Bob Timmermann recalls being evacuated from Granada Hills