California Earthquake Rocks Napa Wine Region

(Newswire.net — August 25, 2014) Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA — A magnitude 6.0 earthquake, the strongest felt in the region in 25 years, rocked the Northern California area early Sunday morning at 3.20am local time. The earthquake struck just 6 miles from the world famous wine region of Napa Valley. Injuring more than 100 people, the earthquake also damaged historical buildings, wineries and caused major gas and water leaks, leading to numerous gas-fuelled fires.

 

Fortunately, there have been no reported fatalities and it is believed there are 3 people seriously injured. More than 15,000 homes around the Napa region were left without power according to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and California Governor, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency for the Southern Napa County area in order to help with recovery and cleanup.

 

Downtown Napa suffered significant damage to many of its beautiful historical Victorian-era buildings, including the Post Office building and several restaurants and local stores. Dazed residents wandered the streets after the quake, too afraid of potential aftershocks to return to their homes. Building facades, bricks and broken glass scattered the pavements of historical downtown Napa. It is reported that at least three historical buildings and two commercial buildings have been severely damaged. Several streets have also been closed due to significant cracking and damage.

 

Queen of the Valley Medical Centre in Napa treated about 120 patients, most of whom had only suffered bumps, bruises and some broken bones. A triage center was established to deal with the influx of patients and, of those treated, 12 were admitted to hospital, with three suffering serious injuries.

 

Power outages, damage to buildings and gas-fuelled fires left many residents homeless. A Red Cross evacuation center has been established in one of the city’s churches to help those with food, clothing and shelter needs.

 

Many residents who were woken by the earthquake early Sunday morning utilized social media to communicate their experiences and to let family and friends know they were ok. One Twitter users tweeted, “Major shaker. Stuff off shelves. Broken glass. No house damage that is obvious.” Another tweeted, “On 6th floor entire building swaying, shaking.”

 

Despite the size of this quake, it is not considered to be ‘The Big One’ that many geologists are predicting is due to hit the California region at some time in the future. According to Don Blakeman, a US Geological Survey geophysicist, “Usually when people talk about ‘The Big One,’ they’re talking about something in the order of a magnitude 9, which of course is tremendously more powerful” than Sunday morning’s earthquake.

 

California sits on the San Andreas Fault line, where the Pacific Plate and North American Plate join, meaning earthquakes are expected to occur over time. Thousands of small earthquakes occur between these two plates each year, most of which are too small to be felt on the surface. Along the San Andreas Fault line are over 100 secondary fault lines that run throughout the state of California, most of which are known to produce significant quakes.

 

This earthquake was the largest in the region since the 6.9-magnitude quake shook Loma Prieta back in October, 1989, killing more than 60 people and causing severe damage to buildings and infrastructure.