SCOTTISH airline executive Tony Griffin last night spoke of his fears

for his family as they awoke to the shock waves of the Los Angeles

earthquake.

Mr Griffin, 44, a senior vice president with British Airways based in

California, said that he had felt many tremors while living on the west

coast but nothing as major as yesterday's shock.

He said: ''We were wakened by the house rumbling and shaking about

4.30 in the morning and I got everyone up and we ran into the street in

our nightclothes. As well as the fear of the building collapsing we were

scared of power lines coming down as most of them are overhead here.''

Mr Griffin lives with his American wife Kate, two daughters and a son

at Redondo Beach on the south of the city. Their house was shaken,

dishes thrown from cupboards and smashed, and books hurled from their

shelves.

''Shocks were felt in Las Vegas, 200 miles away, and even as far down

as the Mexican border. This was a big one and I have just heard from my

secretary that her block of flats near San Bernadino has been badly

damaged although everyone seems to have escaped without injury. Her

place is in ruins and they don't know when they will get back in.

Structural engineers have been called out to look at it.'' he added.

Mr Griffin, whose family were well known in the licensed trade in

Glasgow some years ago, has been posted to Los Angeles three times and

is now in charge of service delivery for BA in the western United

States.

He continued: ''We have electricity but a lot of people nearer the

centre of the quake have lost power and are relying on radio for the

news of the damage and casualties. One fear is looting in the chaos

downtown, similar to what went on during the riots of recent years.

''The National Guard has been put on stand-by to help the police and

sheriff's department in keeping peace. We all hope that there is no

trouble.''

Mr Griffin said it had been a blessing that the earthquake had come in

the early hours of the morning because there was so little traffic

around and events like the flattening of a shopping mall on the

outskirts of the city had resulted in few casualties.

He added: ''It is a holiday here for Martin Luther King Day and

fortunately none of the schools or colleges and only a few of the

offices are open.

''I have been in touch with my colleagues at Los Angeles Airport and

although it is working on auxiliary power things are as normal as

possible. It was closed for four hours while checks were made on the

runways.

''BA flights are operating normally, all the crews are fine as they

were booked into a hotel quite near where I live and I will be trying

for the rest of the day to make sure that the locally based airline

people, sonme of whom lived near my secretary, are safe and well.''

Mr Griffin, clearly retaining his Glaswegian sense of humour, said:

''I phoned my mum and dad in Glasgow and they hadn't heard a thing about

it. They asked me what all the fuss was about so I told them there is so

much excitement around here you would think Celtic had beaten Rangers.''

Meanwhile, Scot Janet Taylor described how the freeway started shaking

as she and her husband Kenneth drove towards Los Angeles from their home

in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Mrs Taylor, who left Cumbernauld with her family for the US almost 20

years ago, said: ''At first we thought we had a puncture, then we felt

the road moving and suddenly a ramp about six car lengths in front of us

just collapsed. There were two cars on it. I don't know what happened to

the people.

''In the darkness we could see fires breaking out as gas pipes

fractured.'' Mr Taylor, an engineer in the aerospace industry, had been

on his way to work and planned to drop his wife at the home of their

married daughter so she could baby sit. They were forced to turn their

car on the freeeway and drive to their appartment where their sons,

William, 21, and Kenneth, 25, were waiting.

Mrs Taylor said: ''The swimming pool was half empty because the shock

had forced out much of the water. Our apartment is a mess. Everything

was thrown to the floor. Anything that was breakable broke -- the

television, the microwave, plates and glasses are all in bits. We have

no gas, no electricity and no water but we can sit it out.''

The Taylors' daughter, Mrs Lynn Thomson, 27, and her son Ryan, two,

live closer to Los Angeles. Said Mrs Taylor: ''We have spoken to them by

phone and they are alright but very shaken. Because the roads are out we

can't get near them. It is very worrying.''