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Magnitude 6.0 Quake Hits Northern California, Causing Injuries and Outages 135

As numerous sources report, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck California early Sunday morning, with an epicenter about 9 miles south of Napa. According to the San Francisco Chronicle's account, Some power lines down in western Contra Costa County, but Bay Area bridges appeared to be fine, according to the California Highway Patrol. There were widespread reports of power outages, gas leaks and flooding in the North Bay, with at least 15,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers without power in Vallejo, Napa, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa and Sonoma. Police reminded motorists to stop at darkened intersections. ... In Benicia, several miles from the epicenter, the quake was strong enough to knock pictures off mantles. Bay Area bridges appear to have survived the quake -- significant, in that the L.A. Times reports that USGS estimates peg it as "the largest earthquake to strike the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta temblor of 1989," and says that injury reports (especially from glass) are streaming in from the area around Napa. The Times also has a larger estimate of customers suffering power outages: "more than 42,000" around the northern Bay Area. Unsurprisingly, social media channels are full of pictures showing some of the damage.

For those in California, did you feel the quake? (And from how far away?) Update: 08/24 13:15 GMT by T : Also in earthquake news: an even stronger quake (magnitude 6.4) on Saturday struck central Chile, shaking Santiago -- nearly 70 miles from the epicenter -- for more than half a minute, but with "no immediate reports of fatalities or serious damage."
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Magnitude 6.0 Quake Hits Northern California, Causing Injuries and Outages

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  • Santiago (Score:4, Informative)

    by Space ( 13455 ) on Sunday August 24, 2014 @09:58AM (#47741613) Homepage

    I am currently working in Santiago and did feel last nights shaking. It is not the first I have felt in the last year but it is definately the strongest. I haven't heard of any problems in Santiago but Valpariso is much closer and a portion of the city was recently damaged in a large fire so this might complicate the recovery efforts there.

  • by Skynyrd ( 25155 ) on Sunday August 24, 2014 @04:52PM (#47743501) Homepage

    The quake was in Napa, which most people don't consider to be the Bay Area. Yes, it's nearby, but it's not really the Bay Area.
    When the headlines read "Massive Quake Hits Bay Area!", most people will think of places like San Francisco and Oakland. According to Google Maps, Oakland to Napa County Airport (near the epicenter) is 37 miles and my guess is 30 miles in a straight line.

    See that map here: http://www.google.org/publical... [google.org]

    In my part of Oakland, it was big enough to wake me up, but nothing rattled or hit the floor.

    Napa got hammered, but the Bay Area just got its dishes rattled.

    I saw a bunch of panic on social media this morning, from people out of the area. All they saw was "Bay Area Earthquake" in the media.

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