Shellie Blackson, 23, of the Pico-Fairfax area, stepped on broken glass and split her foot open as she scrambled out of bed in the dark. As blood gushed, a friend remembered his first-aid training and fashioned a makeshift tourniquet, then rushed her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on the Westside.

In the hours after the quake, the first patients who rushed into the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center had suffered alarming problems such as heart attacks, said nurse Paul Johnson. But many of the 200 or so patients who followed during the initial 12 hours suffered lacerations on their feet and legs or sprained ankles, he said.

PHOTO: COLOR, FEET OF CLAY: Throughout Los Angeles, the most common victims of the earthquake were feet. Arturo Combybgua, above, hurt his ankle.; PHOTO: Arturo Combybgua is on crutches after hurting his ankle during quake. / RICARDO DeARATANHA / Los Angeles Times