Napa, California – Authorities in California’s wine country north of San Francisco were scrambling late Sunday to reach damaged buildings and restore power in the town of Napa after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck before dawn, injuring more than 100 people.
No deaths were reported but authorities said a child was in critical condition from multiple fractures after being crushed by a fireplace.
CALIFORNIA QUAKE (AP) – People look at a damaged building with a top corner exposed following a magnitude 6 earthquake in Napa, California, USA, on Sunday morning. Right, a Filipina employee picks up fallen grocery items at 3J’s Oriental Market in American Canyon, California.
California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in the wake of the 3:20 a.m. quake (past 6 p.m. Sunday Manila time) that sparked fires, damaged historic buildings, set homes on fire burst water mains, caused gas leaks and even cracked roads around picturesque Napa, a famous wine-producing region and tourist destination.
The US Geological Survey said the temblor that jolted residents out of bed was the most powerful to hit the San Francisco Bay area since the 1989 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake.
Six fires broke out, including one that consumed six mobile homes, local fire battalion chief John Callahanhe said.
NO PINOY AFFECTED
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday assured that no Filipino was affected by the strong quake that hit California, USA.
“According to our Consulate General in San Francisco, they have not received any report of Filipinos affected by the earthquake in California,” DFA spokesperson Charles Jose said.
There are an estimated 1.5 million Filipinos living in California.
At least 33 buildings in the city of Napa, a city of 77,000, had been “red-tagged,” meaning they were unsafe to enter, said Napa Community Development Director Rick Tooker. Inspectors had accessed about a third of all structures and planned to complete the work on Monday.
Napa’s Queen of the Valley Medical Center said it had treated 172 patients injured in the quake.
“They say it went for 50 seconds. It felt like 50 minutes. I was just too terrified to even scream,” said Patricia Trimble, 50, the owner of an antique store. She rushed to her store in central Napa and found the front window blown out, cabinets on their sides and merchandise littering the floor.
David Gadlin, manager of Lucero Olive Oil shop in downtown Napa, who raced to the store to find the floor coated with olive oil, vinegar and shattered glass.
“It could have been a lot worse if it happened during the day when customers and workers were inside,” he said. “We will get through this.”
The state, which sits along a series of seismic faults, is forecast to experience a much more powerful earthquake at some point, but scientists do not know when it might come or how strong it would measure, according to Don Blakeman, geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
“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’s quake, he said.
DOWNTOWN CLOSED
Brick facades gave way in the historic section of downtown Napa, located about 50 miles north of San Francisco, and bricks fell off a second floor corner of the courthouse, which showed cracks. On the main street, masonry collapsed onto a car.
One building housing winery tasting rooms had to be closed to tourists, and the floors of many wine stores were stained red from the contents of broken wine bottles.
Mark Ghilarducci, director of California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said most of downtown Napa had been cordoned off as crew assessed building damage. City officials said all schools would be closed Monday so that buildings could be checked for structural damage.
By Sunday evening, about 11,000 to 15,000 people were still without power, down from 70,000 after the earthquake hit. “Right now, things are stabilizing a little bit,” said Ghilarducci.
Napa City Manager Mike Parness said it could take a full week before the city was fully restored.
“We’re seeing people coming together and helping people and getting buildings back on line as soon as possible,” Parness told a midday news conference.
PERU QUAKE
Meanwhile, a magnitude 6.9 quake struck southern Peru on Sunday, shaking the capital Lima 300 miles away but triggering no widespread damage or injuries.
The quake hit at 2321 GMT (7 a.m. Monday Manila time) at a depth of 36.6 miles (58.9 km), 27 miles (43 km) east-northeast of the town of Tambo in the southern region of Ayacucho, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Peru’s civil defense institute said there were no reports of damage or injury.
The quake was felt in coastal areas, but local authorities ruled out the possibility of potential tsunamis as the epicenter was far inland.
Several large mines operate in neighboring parts of southern Peru, a top exporter of copper, silver and gold. (With a report from Madel Sabater-Namit)