Garden built with rubble from 1994 quake unveiled on Northridge campus

LOS ANGELES (AP) A sculpture garden built from twisted steel and other rubble of the 1994 Northridge earthquake was unveiled at a state university campus.

Victims of the devastating quake were on hand Sunday at California State University, Northridge, which received $400 million in damage from the temblor.

``The earthquake doesn't bring back good memories, but this will,'' said Pamela Gelman of Westwood, whose Tarzana home was badly damaged by the magnitude-6.7 quake.

The Lauretta Wasserstein Earthquake Sculpture Garden features concrete columns, a staircase, and other debris from a collapsed parking lot mingling with reeds and native grasses. It pays tribute to the resilience and tenacity of the university and the community in recovering from the temblor.

``This commemorates the human spirit that brought the university back,'' university President Jolene Koester said.

The Jan. 27, 1994, quake was centered one mile south of Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. It caused more than 70 deaths and damaged or destroyed about 114,000 homes and buildings.

The memorial was created by landscape architect Paul Lewis and artist Marjorie Berkson Sievers, whose Northridge home also was damaged.

Sievers said she was inspired by ivy that grew into her home through cracks in her bathroom wall.

``It dawned on me that nature was taking over,'' she said. ``If left alone, it would be beautiful.''

The family and friends of Lauretta Wasserstein, a former CSUN health science faculty member, provided much of the $200,000 funding for the sculpture garden. Wasserstein died of breast cancer more than 10 years ago.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)