LOS ANGELES TIMES SPECIAL REPORT : IMAGES OF THE NORTHRIDGE EARTHQUAKE : Grief : FOR SOME, A LOSS BEYOND CONSOLATION

When we all were terrified when the quake hit, most of us, even those who had lost a home, breathed a little easier when the shaking stopped.

But for some, the fright yielded to horror when they discovered that loved ones had died. These people walked a separate path from the rest of us. While we dug out, they made funeral arrangements.

For them, the Northridge quake will never recede into the past as an anecdote to tell their grandchildren. It will always be part of their present.

PERRY RIDDLE / Los Angeles Times