This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
California earthquake: three critically injured as governor declares emergency
California earthquake: three critically injured and 87 sent to hospital
(about 2 hours later)
Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday declared a state of emergency for the part of California’s wine country hard-hit by a large earthquake that struck at 3.30am.
The largest earthquake to hit the San Francisco Bay Area in 25 years sent scores of people to hospitals, ignited fires, damaged multiple historic buildings and knocked out power to tens of thousands in California’s wine country on Sunday.
The governor issued a proclamation directing state agencies to help respond to the 6.0-magnitude quake that struck about six miles from the city of Napa. At least 87 people were taken to hospital in Napa and three people, two adults and a young child, had been critically injured.
The magnitude-6.0 earthquake that struck at 3.20am, about six miles from the city of Napa, ruptured water mains and gas lines, left two adults and a child critically injured, upended bottles and casks at some of Napa Valley’s famed wineries and sent residents running out of their homes in the darkness.
Napa fire operations chief John Callanan told the Associated Press the young child had been struck by part of a fireplace and airlifted to a specialty hospital for a neurological evaluation.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the earthquake, the White House said. Federal officials also have been in touch with state and local emergency responders and Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for southern Napa County, directing state agencies to respond with equipment and personnel.
The earthquake struck about 10 miles northwest of American Canyon, which is about six miles southwest of Napa in California wine country, said Leslie Gordon of the US Geological Survey (USGS). It was the largest earthquake to shake the Bay Area since the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta quake in 1989, the USGS said.
“This was a pretty big jolt in Napa, but it certainly is not ‘The Big One’,” Barry Martin, Napa’s community outreach co-ordinator, said in comments to local television, referring to fears Californians have of a catastrophic quake along one of the seismic faults underneath the state.
“This was a pretty big jolt in Napa, but it certainly is not The Big One,” Barry Martin, Napa’s community outreach co-ordinator, said in comments to local television, referring to fears Californians have of a catastrophic quake along one of the seismic faults underneath the state.
California is forecast to experience a much more powerful earthquake at some point, but scientists do not know exactly when it will come or how strong it will be, said a US Geological Survey geophysicist, Don Blakeman.
California is forecast to experience a much more powerful earthquake at some point, but scientists do not know exactly when it will come or how strong it will be, USGS geophysicist Don Blakeman said.
“Usually when people talk about ‘The Big One,’ they’re talking about something on the order of a magnitude 9, which of course is tremendously more powerful” than Sunday’s quake, Blakeman said.
“Usually when people talk about ‘The Big One,’ they’re talking about something on the order of a magnitude 9, which of course is tremendously more powerful” than Sunday’s quake, Blakeman said.
Callanan said Napa had exhausted its resources extinguishing six fires, transporting injured residents, searching homes for anyone who might be trapped and answering calls about gas leaks, water main breaks and downed power lines. Inspectors were evaluating damaged buildings, bridges and roads. Power to tens of thousands was knocked out.
Dazed residents too fearful of aftershocks to go back to bed wandered at dawn through Napa’s historic downtown, where the quake had shorn a 10ft chunk of bricks and concrete from the corner of an old county courthouse. Boulder-sized pieces of rubble littered the lawn and street in front of the building and the hole left behind allowed a view of the offices inside.
Most patients taken to the Queen of the Valley hospital in Napa had cuts, bumps, bruises, said Vanessa DeGier, a spokeswoman. She said the facility had treated a hip fracture and a heart attack, but it was unclear if they were related to the quake. The hospital had set up a triage tent, DeGier said.
College student Eduardo Rivera, 20, said the home he shares with six relatives shook so violently that he kept getting knocked back into his bed as he tried to flee.
The Napa city government reported four mobile homes destroyed and two on fire in the northern part of the city, as well as 50 gas main breaks, 30 water main leaks and damage to historic buildings as well as commercial properties. Napa fire chief Darren Drake said the quake caused six significant fires.
“When I woke up, my mom was screaming, and the sound from the earthquake was greater than my mom’s screams,” Rivera said.
Unreinforced masonry buildings in downtown Napa including the historic courthouse and library suffered major damage, city officials said.
Napa fire operations chief John Callanan said the city has exhausted its resources trying to extinguish six fires, some in places with broken water mains; transporting injured residents; searching homes for anyone who might be trapped; and answering calls about gas leaks and downed power lines.
“There’s collapses, fires,” said Napa fire captain Doug Bridewell, standing in front of large pieces of masonry from a turn-of-the-century office building where a fire had just been extinguished. “That’s the worst shaking I’ve ever been in.”
Two of the fires happened at mobile home parks, including one where four homes were destroyed and two others damaged, Callanan said.
Bridewell said he had to climb over fallen furniture in his home to check on his family before reporting for duty.
The earthquake sent at least 87 people to Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, where officials set up a triage tent to handle the influx. Most patients had cuts, bumps, bruises, said Vanessa DeGier, a hospital spokeswoman. Callanan told the Associated Press the young child had been struck by part of a fireplace and airlifted to a specialty hospital for a neurological evaluation.
“Everything was just shaking, the hanging lamps waving back and forth,” said Omar Lopez, 24, night clerk at a small inn in St Helena, 15 minutes outside Napa. “Guests came into the front desk after the quake and they said the swimming pool looked like a bunch of people had jumped in at the same time.”
The earthquake is the largest to shake the Bay Area since the magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta quake in 1989, the USGS said. That temblor struck the area on 17 October 1989, during a World Series game between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, collapsing part of the Bay Bridge roadway and killing more than 60 people, most when an Oakland freeway fell.
“Oh I felt it. When I woke up I was lying on the floor. It kicked me out of bed,” said Keith, a man who lives in Napa and who wanted to be identified only by his first name. He said he went right into his job at the front desk of a Napa hotel, leaving his house in disorder.
Sunday’s quake was felt widely throughout the region. People reported feeling it more than 200 miles south of Napa and as far east as the Nevada border. Amtrak suspended its train service through the Bay Area so tracks could be inspected.
“The house is a mess, everything is out of the cabinets in the kitchen. Dressers tipped over.”
Napa city manager Mike Parness said at an afternoon news conference that 15 to 16 buildings were no longer inhabitable, and there was only limited access to numerous other structures, mostly ones with broken windows. Officials said they were still assessing buildings in the area.
The shaking, which was felt over a wide area, emptied cabinets in homes and store shelves, set off car alarms and had residents of neighbouring Sonoma County running out of their houses. Officials said widespread power outages had been reported.
A Pacific Gas and Electric spokesman, JD Guidi, said close to 30,000 people lost power right after the quake hit, but the number was down just under 19,000, most of them in Napa. He said crews were working to make repairs, but it was unclear when electricity would be restored.
“It was a rolling quake, said Oakland resident Rich Lieberman. “It started very much like a rolling sensation and just got progressively worse in terms of length. Not so much in terms of shaking, but it did shake. It felt like a side-to-side kind of rolling sensation. Nothing violent but extremely lengthy and extremely active.”
The depth of the earthquake was just less than seven miles and numerous small aftershocks have occurred, the US Geological Survey said.
“It was long. I think it was the biggest one since I felt since I felt the 1989 quake,” said Stephanie Martin, 47, a nursing assistant in Oakland, south of the area where the quake was felt more strongly. “Nothing tipped over, thank God. Rolling back and forth. Just woke us all up.”
“A quake of that size in a populated area is of course widely felt throughout that region,” said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the USGS in Golden, Colorado.
The USGS said the depth of the earthquake was just less than seven miles, and numerous small aftershocks had occurred in the Napa wine country.
“A quake of that size in a populated area is of course widely felt throughout that region,” said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the USGS in Golden, Colorado. “The 6.0 is a sizeable quake for this area. It’s a shallow quake. It’s about six miles deep. We received hundreds of reports on our website from people that felt it in the surrounding area.”
Aftershocks can continue for the next several weeks and experts will watch their distribution to determine if this quake happened on a fault line, Baldwin said.
Numerous emergency vehicles were on the roads in Napa and Sonoma counties. A California highway patrol officer, Daniel Hill, told KTVU-TV road damage appeared confined to the Napa and Sonoma areas. He said there appeared to be no damage to major bridges in the Bay Area.
“They are in pretty good shape,” he said, noting that a couple of the roadways in the Napa-Sonoma area had some bumps and cracks.
