| CNN | - |
(CNN)
-- The strongest earthquake in 25 years struck Northern California
early Sunday, injuring more than 120 people, damaging historic buildings
in downtown Napa and turning fireplaces into rubble.
Northern California earthquake is the strongest in 25 years
updated 8:14 PM EDT, Sun August 24, 2014
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: At least 120 injured have been or are being treated, hospital official says
- Young child in critical condition flown out for treatment, authorities say
- California governor declares state of emergency
- Water main ruptures and fires break out; at least 15,000 people without power
Editor's note: Are you there? Share your images if you can safely.
(CNN) -- The strongest earthquake in 25 years struck
Northern California early Sunday, injuring more than 100 people,
damaging historic buildings in downtown Napa and turning fireplaces into
rubble.
The 6.0-magnitude quake struck just six miles southwest of Napa, California's famed wine country.
All but six of the
injured were treated and released from the emergency room at Queen of
the Valley Hospital, said its president, Walt Mickens. They mostly
suffered bruises and lacerations, he said.
Six patients sustained critical injures, including a young child, Mickens said.
6.1 earthquake shakes California
Quake location
The child was hurt when a
fireplace collapsed and has been airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center,
hospital spokeswoman Vanessa deGier told CNN.
Only one patient is still in critical condition, said Walt Mickens, the president and CEO of Queen of the Valley Medical Center.
Mickens said that 172
people have been seen by the hospital's emergency room, though he could
not confirm that all of those seeking treatment had injuries resulting
from the earthquake.
"Everything and everyone
in Napa was affected by the quake. My house, along with everybody
else's, is a disaster. It looks like somebody broke in and ravaged the
place, room by room." said CNN iReporter Malissa Koven, who was awakened
by the shaking at about 3:20 a.m.
"Anything and everything that could fall, did," she said.
The damage in Napa is
"fairly significant," said Glenn Pomeroy, the CEO of the California
Earthquake Authority, who surveyed the area Sunday afternoon.
"The downtown area is
hardest hit, probably because of the age of construction down there,"
Pomeroy said. In the residential areas, he is "seeing a lot of chimneys
that've come crashing down."
In historic downtown
Napa, the bricks and beams that once made up buildings' facades lay
splayed in the street. Shattered glassware covered the floor of a local
restaurant. One home had visible charring from a fire that occurred in
the aftermath of the quake.
"The post office
building had cracked, the local hardware store was destroyed with layers
of shelves that had fallen over and busted the windows, multiple
buildings had fallen apart, and all the local businesses looked trashed
on the inside and out," Koven said.
However, the damage "is
not as bad as it could have been," Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the
California Office of Emergency Services, said at a news conference
Sunday. Ninety to 100 homes are not safe to enter, according to
Ghilarducci.
To help with the recovery Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency.
"We're here for the long run," Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN. "Not just when we're putting out fires -- literally."
The earthquake triggered
six major fires that completely destroyed several mobile homes, said
Napa Division Fire Chief John Callanan. The city has set up a shelter
for those who need a place to stay.
People phoned in more than 100 reports of gas leaks and downed power lines, according to Napa city officials.
Some historic buildings
in downtown Napa showed extensive damage and at least 15,000 customers
in and around Sonoma, Napa and Santa Rosa lost power, according to
Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
City officials counted
at least 60 minor water main breaks and leaks, and 20 of those lines
have been shut off, according to Napa public works director Jack
Rochelle.
"None of our larger transmission mains appear to have been damaged. That is really good news," Rochelle said.
He said it might take up
to a week to get the water system back to normal. The water that is
still flowing is safe to drink, he said.
School has been canceled
in Napa on Monday to give officials time to clean up and review their
school buildings to make sure they are safe, said Napa Valley Unified
Schools Superintendent Patrick Sweeney.
How did it feel?
Sunday's earthquake
struck four miles northwest of American Canyon, six miles southwest of
Napa and nine miles southeast of Sonoma, according to the USGS.
The USGS estimated that
based on their locations, 15,000 people experienced severe shaking,
106,000 people felt very strong shaking, 176,000 felt strong shaking and
738,000 felt moderate shaking.
For those in Napa, close to the epicenter, the quake jolted downtown residents such as Karen Lynch.
"It was not like other quakes we have felt," Lynch told CNN. "This was a violent quake."
Although the quake has not resulted in any casualties so far, many residents were surprised by how strong it was.
"Honestly it felt much
worse than the '89 earthquake," CNN iReporter Garret Gauer said. "The
refrigerator relocated itself to the other side of the kitchen"
Farther south of the epicenter in San Francisco, CNN producer Augie Martin felt the quake differently.
"It was a fairly good shake, about 25 or 30 seconds. It was a softer rolling type earthquake " he said.
The quake struck about 7
miles deep and was considered "strong" by the USGS. Major quakes start
at a 7.0 magnitude, according to the USGS scale.
The economic loss caused by the quake is likely to be more than a billion dollars, according to USGS pager data.
Wine country hit
"I've got a lot of
broken wine, being here in Napa," said Emily Massimi, who was woken up
by the quake. "We tend to collect wine, so I have wine all over my
kitchen, and glass, and pictures off the wall and books off of
bookshelves," she told CNN.
At Silver Oak Winery,
owner David Duncan spent the morning cleaning up hundreds of broken wine
bottles that fell off the shelves.
"Those bottles were very
unique," he said. They were part of his private collection and worth
hundreds of dollars. Duncan said he plans to open the winery today.
But it's not just the wine economy that will feel the pain.
"There's a mythology
about Napa, that it's all fancy wineries," Newsom said. "But underneath
that there are a lot of folks here -- very low income -- that are going
to need support."
There have been over 60 aftershocks, according to the USGS, ranging from 0.6 to 3.6 magnitude.
25 years later
The quake was the
strongest to hit the Bay Area since 1989, when a 6.9-magnitude one
struck during the World Series. The Loma Prieta earthquake caused 63
deaths, 3,757 injuries and an estimated $6 billion in property damage, according to the USGS.
The damage from Sunday's
earthquake was relatively minor compared with the buckled highways and
destroyed homes that scattered the Bay area in the aftermath of the
quake 25 years ago.
The 1994 Northridge
earthquake in Southern California was nearly as deadly -- 60 people were
killed and more than 7,000 were injured. The USGS says 20,000 people were left homeless in its aftermath.
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