Complex sentence: Around that time, when a minor earthquake struck Los Angeles, she ran frightened into the kitchen and rapidly verbalized to some cooks she had befriended; this was the first time she sought out comfort from another person and the first time she was so readily verbal.
Split into simpler sentences: Around that time, when a minor earthquake struck Los Angeles, she ran frightened into the kitchen and rapidly verbalized to some of the cooks she had befriended. This was the first time she sought out comfort from another person, and the first time she was so readily verbal.