California earthquake strikes San Francisco Bay area Skip to main content

California earthquake strikes San Francisco Bay area


An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 has shaken northern California, reports the US Geological Survey.

The USGS said it struck at 03:20 local time (10:20 GMT) four miles (6km) north-west of American Canyon, at a depth of 6.7 miles.

At least 87 people have been injured in the Napa area, three of them seriously.
The site is 51 miles from Sacramento and about 30 miles north-east of San Francisco, where many Twitter users say the earthquake woke them up.

Officials in Napa said in a statement that the quake had destroyed four mobile homes and caused "approximately 50" gas main breaks and around 30 leaks from water mains.
Three historic buildings in the town had been hit and two commercial buildings "severely damaged", the statement went on.

More than 10,000 households were without power in Napa County, about six miles from the earthquake's epicentre, and the surrounding area, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company said.

An evacuation centre has been set up in a high school gym.

The California Highway Patrol in the San Francisco Bay Area tweeted that it was "checking over crossings and bridges for obvious signs of structural integrity", and asked residents to report any signs of problems.
Bricks are in the street after a building was damaged during an earthquake in Napa The city of Napa saw some of the worst of the damage
A California Highway Patrol officer redirects traffic from a buckled section of road Police had to divert drivers from buckled sections of road
People walk past a tumbled mannequin and broken storefront window in Napa Several stores and supermarkets suffered damage in Napa
Twitter users in the quake zone contacted the BBC to share their experiences.
Sarah McLellan tweeted: "On 6th floor entire building swaying, shaking", while Matt Dyar said: "Major shaker. Stuff off shelfs. Broken glass. No house damage that is obvious."
Another Twitter user said: "I haven't felt one that big since the Northridge quake in the early 90s."

Numerous small aftershocks were also reported on Sunday.
California lies on the San Andreas Fault, which forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, two of the large moving plates that form the Earth's crust.

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and subsequent fires devastated the city.
In 1989, a powerful earthquake struck San Francisco, killing nine people and injuring hundreds.


Map


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28918600
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