I lived on Lake Merrit, worked on the 18th floor of a nearby high rise. But I flew out of Oakland that morning to go look at grad schools back east. Was in a holding pattern over Boston when pilot announced game had been delayed because of major quake.
My friend at airport had no clue as she had been at airport for a while waiting for my late flight. So I stopped at first bar in concourse and watched tv coverage.
When I saw collapsed Cypress Structure (did anyone know that was its name the day before the quake? It was the "double decker section of 880" as far as I was concerned) I figured the death count would be huge given it was rush hour. Didn't count on rush hour being lighter than normal because everyone got home early to watch the game.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." -- (maybe) Benjamin Disraeli, popularized by Mark Twain