CNN News Article - November 19, 2028: San Andreas Island, A Community Born Beyond California’s Wildest Dreams
Five years ago to the day, at 5:30 a.m., the San Andreas Earthquake jolted Southern Californians at a magnitude of 9.7 on the Richter Scale and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). In one of the most unprecedented natural disasters in modern history, the coast of Santa Monica was split off into what’s now been named San Andreas Island, separated by a two-mile-wide sandbar.
The epicenter was in the city of Santa Monica and lasted one minute and fourteen seconds, with six aftershocks averaging a magnitude of 5 on the Richter Scale. The heartbreaking death toll numbered 5,140 people, and over 200,000 others became homeless or displaced from their residences. Thousands fled the city and headed north or out of state.
Heart-wrenching screams could be heard from people drowning in the water as the earth split open at the San Andreas Fault Line. Families were torn apart and were without contact, not knowing who was dead or alive.
The 405 and 101 Freeways collapsed. Three hundred tons of concrete slammed down on the road below, as rush hour traffic was brewing, smashing pedestrians and killing drivers on their way to work, above and underneath the overpasses. Shaking was felt as far inland as Las Vegas.
Devastating fires soon broke out in the city and lasted for several days. Thousands of homes were dismantled. Even firefighters were speechless.
A volatile mix of fire and water spread throughout the city, and much of the destruction was caused by the out-of-control flames. People were trapped inside homes and buildings for days. Some were never rescued, and some were never found due to the fires decimating the structures they were in.
Portable generators saved thousands of lives, giving construction workers light to work on the city 24/7. Television crews were able to do their jobs and broadcast the reality of the crisis to the world, causing help to arrive faster than it might have otherwise.
Out of the 19 schools in Santa Monica, only two are still standing. For weeks, it was not uncommon to see people being carried away on stretchers to receive medical care. People were getting medical treatment right on the streets.
Hospitals were incapable of providing adequate care for the overflow of patients, medicine and prescriptions ran out, and most homes had no electricity or clean water. Moans could be heard throughout the city from people not yet rescued.
Many residents were given only a few minutes to get their belongings and get out of their homes. So many people lost everything they knew. Pets, wedding photos, and everything else was burned or destroyed. People were not able to evacuate in time, and countless family members were not able to get to their loved ones because of blocked roads and no operating phones.
It has taken multi billion dollar budgets to rebuild Santa Monica into what it is today. Still, two years later, thousands of makeshift tents sprawl throughout the city.
Although buildings and homes were engineered to abide by earthquake codes, and structures were retrofitted with heavy steel beams and massive strips of rubber to absorb the seismic shock to roll the buildings like wheels, it was impossible for anyone to have been prepared for this extraordinary quake. Residents who were prepared had to survive for the first five consecutive days on their own non-perishable food and stored gallons of water, were instructed to shut off their gas, and had no technology, no wifi, no landlines, and no electricity.
Tongva Park, named after the first inhabitants of this beach city, is undergoing a complete rebirth and renovation. The most desirable real estate homes in Southern California were demolished in a minute and fourteen seconds.
The top seismologists at Stanford University have been conducting extensive research as to how San Andreas Island was created as a result of this quake, particularly with California being on a strike-slip fault line. According to their findings, California sits on two tectonic plates, the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.
The San Andreas Fault Line separates the two plates and runs down the middle of California. This 800-mile crack is where the two massive tectonic plates meet. They are constantly moving past one another, which in essence means that Los Angeles migrates north a few inches each year.
In five to ten million years, Los Angeles will have travelled north and will be located right next to San Francisco.
Thrust faults differ from strike-slip faults in that the tectonic plates bend and don’t slide past one another, but rather collide head on. What this means for California residents is that over eons, the constant banging where the plates meet has created small cracks which are wedged on top of each other, resulting in the creation of mountains on the earth’s surface.
Mountains have created all of California’s beautiful scenery, provided water sources and scattered valleys across the Los Angeles Basin.
In the San Andreas Earthquake, the plates were sliding past one another, and the grinding produced the seismic wave (an earthquake). The significant length of the San Andreas Fault in the earth’s surface was what caused this Extreme intensity 9.7 magnitude quake and its massive separation into what appears to be an island, connected underwater by a two-mile sandbar.
The streets of Santa Monica have remained in their original rectangular grid, while those streets that have been built on San Andreas Island are circular, with three main diagonal roads intersecting them to make it easier to get across the island.
The late William James, a prominent psychologist at the turn of the 20th Century, once published his observations about another historical event: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. His words are very much applicable to what Californians experienced with the 2023 San Andreas Quake.
He wrote, “The first of these was the rapidity of the improvisation of order out of chaos… the second thing that struck me was the universal equanimity.”
Southern Californians pulled together in the rubble. The President declared the San Andreas Earthquake a state of emergency, and sent United States military troops across hundreds of miles throughout the city of Los Angeles on search and rescue missions, and to provide relief and support.
International aid showed up from far and wide. Our neighbors in Canada and Mexico arrived with medical supplies and food immediately. U.S. allies delivered assistance from across the Pacific Ocean, with Australia flying in natural products to build huts early on to provide temporary shelter, and Japan aiding with their technologically advanced military support.
New investors were brought in from out of state and internationally to reconstruct residential and commercial properties for hundreds of miles from the city of Santa Monica and all across Los Angeles County.
Despite the widespread support, many survivors were still forced to rebuild on their own. Thousands became volunteers who stepped in to help and go on searches, and they continue to volunteer their services two years later, reconstructing the city and this new way of life.
This devastating earthquake gave birth to the spiritual healing retreat that is known today as San Andreas Island Retreat. A Southern California native named Jelina King, a psychotherapist and single mother, spearheaded the transformation of this tiny but mighty piece of land into an island retreat.
“I was watching people die everyday, and I just couldn’t sit back and do nothing,” she said. “We’ve preserved and enhanced the original tents that were constructed two years ago, and situated them on the circular roads, so there is a constant feeling of unity between us.
“We have mindfulness hikes and runs daily, meditation on paddle boards on the water, and have three specialized rooms. The Raw Room is where healing and spiritual work happens like therapy and yoga. Counseling is available for every single person who wants it. The Focus Room is a very structured and quiet space where people meditate and are guided to work on their writing and other projects without distractions, and the Nourish Room is where we eat meals together. It was inspired by my experience as a therapist in various treatment settings,
and provides all the benefits of an addiction treatment center, but available to anyone and everyone.
“Boat taxis travel from the two docks on the island to the new coast of Santa Monica. They serve two purposes: transporting people to and fro, and providing ocean and beach cleanup. There are sections of the sandbar where people can walk all the way across, with the assistance of thick ropes that have been securely mounted, stretching from the mainland to the island.
“The pain and fear snapped me into action, like dying in my marriage. My whole world stopped and I had to focus on my daughter and our survival. My life as I knew it fell apart and is coming back together in a special and meaningful way. I got a second chance at solace.
“This quake and island have been a rebirth in every way. The physical, emotional and life-changing earthquake ironically shook me to my core while rebuilding and strengthening this very same core right at its roots. Everything in and out of me was uplifted from the ground, turned upside down, and shaken of all its leaves, leaving room for new fruit. All living and physical things were changed forever.
“It is the earthquake that changed this Los Angeles landscape and created our new mountains to climb. Thus, from all the shaking and destruction came those fresh and much needed paths. The split in California helped us realize the splits within all of us and in our own lives, and for all to come together, much like the destruction and rebuilding after the 2023 earthquake.
“We must be mindful of our two Californias within each and every one of us. Whatever grief or life change we go through. We must find compassion for ourselves and everyone, as one never knows when your own ‘stable’ land might be split into two. The sounds of the earthquake from the core of the earth, are what we all sound like in our own core.
“What do we feel, look, and sound like when we have an earthquake? We all have them. We were living on this inevitable earthquake territory, and none of us were prepared for this.
“No one teaches us how to deal with nor prepare for our own life quakes, or how to deal with our lava when it comes out. We all truly reflect nature. Our sun shines, our darkness dampens, tornadoes swallow us up and spit us out, quakes tear us down and rebuild us.
“This quake represented something different for each and every one of us. For me, it represented the divorce in my own life. San Andreas Island Retreat represents my recovery and renaissance.”
Chapter Sixteen:
Wildest Dreams (Spring 2029)
Lily and I are standing parallel to each other on our yoga mats facing a group of about 30 yogis this late morning. We have the typical mix of ages, ranging from seven to 77. Lily speaks into the tiny microphone on her headset and guides the group through a Vinyasa Flow. I remain standing, taking in the moment, as I let her lead the groups. This nine-year-old is remarkable.
A warm ocean breeze blends with the sunlight, warming our island hut to the perfect temperature. It seems like it was just yesterday when the very ground we’re standing on was one of the countless demolished homes from the quake. I still look around sometimes and think it’s all a dream - both my physical surroundings on the island and my internal state of calm and emotional balance.
I gaze at all the people in our yoga class today. Helen and Sarah are towards the center in their usual spots, with Kyle and Luke beside them. I’m getting used to seeing Sarah in maternity mode. She’s maneuvering around her pregnant belly as she holds her poses.
I still can’t believe she’s about to be a mom. She and Luke are going to be incredible parents, but I will always see her as the wild and free sex-crazed one with blue streaks in her hair. I look out past the crowd through our open air hut that we all helped build together after the quake. We recently had tremendous gifts from anonymous donors who I imagine dedicate their lives to fighting climate change. They donated floor to ceiling sliding glass doors around the entire room, and installed solar panel lighting systems for the entire island, and set up vertical farming throughout.
I can see the neighborhood where my mom and brother’s family live now, and I feel comforted. My eyes then land on the taxi boats. They run every half hour around the clock between the new Santa Monica coast and San Andreas Island. To believe Los Angeles would ever have split off at the San Andreas Fault, or that I’d be co-leading a yoga class with Lily in our island retreat, is all beyond my wildest dreams.
We decided to call this room we’re in the Raw Room, where we have yoga classes, group therapy, art therapy and music. It’s open 24/7, 365 days a year for anyone who wants to connect or release. People come when they're in all kinds of states: bored, lonely, depressed after a breakup, adjusting to a newly sober lifestyle. The smaller hut south of this one is the Focus Room, and it’s set up as a quiet space where people can be productive, meditate, write, or read. And just up the road on the north side, is the Nourish Room. This is our charming café where people can select their own herbs from our very own Surfer’s Garden, and organic food is brought over from the mainland about twice a day.
Zero 7 is playing through the speakers. In unison, Lily and I place our right heels up against the highest points on the inside of our left thighs. When we find balance with our left feet planted on the ground, we sweep our arms up and press our hands together for a tall tree pose. I smile to myself as I hear her guiding the group, and see the crowd following her instructions. My heart tingles with love and pride.
“Focus on your breath, and let go of everything happening outside of this room and this very moment,” she says. I don’t hear a trace of insecurity in her voice as she transitions the group into inversions. We release our tree pose, and I get down onto the mat on my hands and knees. Lily watches me as a reminder about proper form.
“Now, everyone here can do this next pose, even if it’s your first time,” she says as she follows my lead, getting onto her mat, still parallel to me. “It’s now or never.” She looks at me and smiles. “Relax for a bit, and just watch me so you’ll know what to do. You’re going to start in a hands and knees position, and clasp your hands together with your forearms flat against the mat. Laying your head down to the mat against your hands, then move your hands back, placing them in the spots where your elbows were just resting.” She peeks over at me. I move forward and she follows my lead.
She continues to speak to the group. “Let your fingertips press down, feeling like frog hands gripping into your mat. Now walk your feet towards you, and slowly shift your weight to your fingertips for balance like you would with your feet and toes if you were standing up. And lift your legs off the floor one at a time, resting your knees on your elbows. Then take your time and straighten your legs as you lift them straight up above you.”
I smile as I watch her focused expression, following her own instructions carefully. She pulls herself up into an almost fully straight headstand. She’s getting better each time. It’s so endearing how I can feel that she truly cares about being able to teach every single person in this room how to do a headstand. We hold our pose for a few more seconds and the I hear some applause. I don’t blame them. How can they not cherish this girl?
Lily releases her pose at the same time as me. I walk around the room, assisting some group members with positioning and balance as needed. I make eye contact with Lily and wave my hand upwards by my throat gesturing a breath. She reads my cue perfectly. “Remember to breathe,” she tells the crowd. “Slowly inhale relaxation, and exhale tension.”
They’re following her instructions. One after the other, I see headstands springing up like tall blades of grass throughout the room.
Lily and I make eye contact again over the sea of people, and I draw the letter “S” in the air for her. She smiles. It’s her favorite part. She sits cross-legged on her mat, with her hands relaxed on her knees. “Alright, everyone. It’s time for the best part of our class.” The group knows what this means by now, and they breathe a sigh of relief. “Lay down, settle in and get comfortable in Savasana pose.”
I remain standing and float by the rows of colorful yoga mats, closing the group with a guided meditation. A sea of yogis lay flat in pin drop silence for ten minutes.
I tap the chime. “Take one last deep inhale, full relaxation,” I say and follow my own instructions, “and exhale, releasing tension.”
The entire room breathes out in unison, wiggling out of their Savasana meditation poses. The crinkling sounds of feet pressing on the hardwood flooring, as people get up from their mats. The energy in the room shifts from quiet synchronicity to spontaneous movement, laughter and chatter.
I pull out the neon yellow Post-It I scribbled on before class.
“Just a reminder guys, before you head out: at noon we will be meeting in the small garden just outside the Nourish kitchen to do some planting and gathering for today’s lunch.” I stretch my arm out towards the back wall. “And we’ll be guided by two extraordinary guest chefs today.”
Their introduction is drowned out by everyone’s cheers and whistles as they look at the back of the class. Helen and Kyle are hand in hand, and smile and nod to the crowd.
“We’ll try to make you proud, J!” Helen calls to me. They got married last winter and travel the world, visiting schools and transforming cafeterias into food gardens where they teach kids to plant their own meals and learn mindful eating skills to combat childhood obesity. I love that my brother married one of my favorite people in the world. And when they’re in town, I do my best to snag them to share their wisdom in the Nourish kitchen with us.
“Thank you, guys! Great job today, everyone. Remember to practice these inversions everyday. They will help you look and feel better than any plastic surgery or drugs can. Alright, enjoy your lunch!” Lily and I are swarmed by people at the end of the class, exchanging hugs with group members as they praise Lily for her maturity and say how impressed they are with this nine-year old is running the class.
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