California Earthquake Injures Three Critically: No Deaths Reported, But USGS Predicts Strong Aftershocks
The California earthquake that shook the San Francisco Bay area is reporting three people critically injured and the hospital are so overwhelmed it’s being declared a state of emergency by Governor Jerry Brown. Fortunately, no California earthquake deaths have been reported so far.
In a related report by The Inquisitr, the San Francisco earthquake hit near American Canyon in Napa County at 3:20 a.m., was only about 40 miles northeast of San Francisco. The earthquake had one aftershock at about 6:30 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Napa city and county officials exhausted their available emergency resources quickly and state resources available through the Office of Emergency Services according to City Manager Mike Parness.
“We have exhausted our resources and we need more help from the outside, both the county and city is asking the governor to access resources from the state.”
“We have right about 100 plus gas leaks, power lines are down, medical calls are about 80 plus in residential areas,”said John Callahan, Operations Chief of the Napa Fire Department. “One major incident of a fireplace falling on a young child, who has been flown out to a neuro center.”
Napa Valley firefighters responded to six different fire reports and the hospital three serious injuries as a result of the quake along with at least 87 minor injuries that required visits to the Napa area hospitals. No deaths have been reported. The Northern California Seismic System reported that “the probability of a strong and possibly damaging aftershock in the next seven days is approximately 45 percent.” The USGS also tweeted, “[A]t this time there’s no exact determination of the causative fault, though the Browns Valley section of the West Napa fault is suspected.”
The USGS has been discussing the possibility of a strong earthquake causing more damage later in the day. More than 30 aftershocks were reported, with the biggest quake being measured at magnitude 3.6, and it was unclear if a bigger quake was coming.
The last time a California earthquake of this magnitude hit the bay area was back in 1989, when the Loma Prieta quake caused severe damage with its 6.9 magnitude damage. In addition, a study in the scientific journal Nature discussed a potential link between earthquakes and the California drought. Geologists believe that a lack of water in the San Joaquin Valley is decreasing the weight on the San Andreas Fault, which could lead to more earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay area. In 2007, a panel of experts estimated there was a 63 percent chance that the Bay area will experience another catastrophic earthquake in the next 23 years.
