Shake Rattle and Roll...

[Lord Jim]

Early Morning Quake Rocks San Francisco Area

A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the San Francisco Bay area at about 3:20 a.m. PT, the US Geological Survey reports, damaging buildings and causing thousands to lose electricity.

The San Jose Mercury News says the area affected stretches from Santa Cruz to Wine Country, including 2.3 million people.

There were no immediate reports of damage to Bay Area bridges, the Mercury News says. The Los Angeles Times , quoting an emergency dispatcher in the area as saying there have been "multiple medical calls."

The USGS says the epicenter was just north of the Bay area, near Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley and American Canyon. The quake struck at a depth of 6.7 miles, USGS says.

Electric and gas utility PG&E's website shows more than 40,000 customers without power

CBS San Francisco reports that the quake, the largest to hit the Bay Area since a magnitude-6.9 hit Loma Prieta in 1989, was felt across Northern California.

KCBS Radio says callers to the news station report "significant shaking motion in the city of Napa, lasting for an extended time."

The station quotes Jessica Turner, from the U.S. Geological Survey, as saying there have already been 25 aftershocks in the region.

The CHP may be closing a bridge on Highway 37 in Vallejo while they inspect it for possible damage, KCBS says.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/201 ... cisco-area

It woke us up and felt like a large train going by right outside the window... rattling the windows and causing a relatively gentle but sustained shaking to the house...

It felt like the duration was almost as long as the Loma Prieta quake, (about 30 seconds) but it never increased in intensity the way that one did. The power flashed off for less than a second, (it was so short the digital clocks didn't even need to be re-set)

What made it a little scary though, was how long it went on. We've had stronger jolts, but they usually only last a few seconds. The '89 earthquake started off very similar to this one, but after about 10 seconds started getting stronger; fortunately this one didn't.

[TPFKA@W]

Glad you are ok. You were the first thing I thought of when I heard about it. I forget who else lives in that area. Kristina?

[Lord Jim]

I was thinking about Kristina; given where she lives, (in the North Bay) of the NorCal posters on the board, she lives nearest to the epicenter. She probably felt it much more strongly than we did.

I've been watching the news since it happened and in Napa and Sonoma there's been some significant damage, but no reports of serious injuries.

What I've seen mostly are store video cameras showing a lot of fallen stock and some shattered windows, and bricks that fell from some older buildings.





The fact that it happened in the middle of the night probably will help keep down the number of injuries, since the stores were closed and there weren't a lot of people walking around outside.

[Lord Jim]

Some more on the injuries and damage:

Along, rolling temblor pegged at 6.0 by the U.S. Geological Survey shook a wide swath of the Bay Area awake early Sunday, causing damage to buildings and sending at least 87 people to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Centered about nine miles south of wine country's Napa at 3:20 a.m., the quake was felt as far south as Santa Cruz and into Sonoma County. It was the largest earthquake to strike the Bay Area since the 6.9 Loma Prieta temblor of 1989, the USGS said.

A little more than two hours after the quake, a shallow magnitude 3.6 tremor was reported by the USGS. The aftershock occurred at 5:47 a.m. at a depth of 5 miles. The National California Seismic System put the chance of a strong aftershock in the next week at 54%.

At least two people were seriously hurt. A spokeswoman at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa said most of its injured 70 patients had cuts, bumps and bruises. Many are being treated and released, but some have been admitted.

The quake caused about 50 gas main breaks and 30 water main leaks. The leaks prompted officials by 7 a.m. to open two evacuation centers at Napa High School and Grace Church. A number of historic buildings have been damaged included the Sam Kee Laundry, Goodman Library and the Napa County Courthouse, according to the city.

Residents reported power outages in Napa and beyond, and fire departments in several counties, along with the California Highway Patrol, were on the lookout for damage to bridges. Pictures flooding in from Twitter showed damage in homes and in the street.

According to a PG&E map, more than 42,000 customers are without power across the northern Bay Area, including American Canyon, Napa, St. Helena, Santa Rosa and Sonoma.

Gov. Jerry Brown said full emergency services have been activated: "These public safety officials are doing all they can to help residents and those living in affected areas should follow their guidance and instruction,” he said in a statement.

The CHP reported that California 121 at California 29 is damaged, with cracks that could cause flat tires. The CHP for the Solano district dispatched its graveyard shift immediately to search for damage and quickly found it: An overpass in Vallejo on California 37 headed toward American Canyon showed several areas where the roadway had separated and concrete crumbled.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

[rubato]

http://www.data.scec.org/recenteqs/Maps/122-38.html



The epicenter is in an area with a lot of alluvial soils with a high water table (based on the number of rivers and sloughs in the area) so the shaking and damage will be greater than if it were rock. I saw a lot of brick buildings in the pictures which are especially prone to failure as well. Post-Loma Prieta, I can't look at a brick building in this area without feeling uneasy.

kristina is in Santa Rosa iir so the degree of shaking will depend on exactly where she is.

Earthquakes are a great way of finding out construction defects or poor maintenance. Newer buildings built to code did very well. Older buildings and building where they 'cheated' during construction failed en masse. In the San Fernando quake a host of newer wood apartment buildings failed and killed their residents because of a lack of code enforcement while buildings where there were sheer walls and metal strapping survived with zero structural damage.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

kristina is in Santa Rosa iir so the degree of shaking will depend on exactly where she is.

She lives in Petaluma.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I hope damage to humans is very limited and that property will be fixable with minimum loss. At the same time, the most graphic and shocking pictures on CNN were like this...

[Joe Guy]

Based on the following graph and my knowledge of alluvial soils in the North Bay along with a probability factor computation that I've formulated, if Kristina was at home, she felt the quake...

[Lord Jim]

Gen'l, there have been numerous similarly horrifying, graphic images broadcast...

And not only that, they're broadcasting them without first giving a warning like, "The images we're about to show you are disturbing, and may be unsuitable for some viewers..."

[liberty]

Glad you are ok. You were the first thing I thought of when I heard about it. I forget who else lives in that area. Kristina?

I was also concerned Jim.

[Gob]

Hope that K checks in to let us know she is ok!! Glad you're ok too Jim & co.

[Gob]

BBC report

The cause?

[rubato]

kristina is in Santa Rosa iir so the degree of shaking will depend on exactly where she is.

She lives in Petaluma.

Just down the road from Santa Rosa. (And we have friends there).

As stated before, the degree of shaking will depend on local conditions.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Gob]

Oh noes...

Napa, California: Prized collections and wooden casks crashed to cellar floors when a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Napa Valley, but damage to the famous wine region at the start of harvest time might be limited to a handful of wineries and warehouses.



Wineries closest to the city of Napa and the earthquake's epicentre reported the most serious losses after the pre-dawn jolt, but the extent of damage was still unclear.

At Saintsbury, around 1.6 km from the epicentre, co-founder Richard Ward said "we saw a lot of action."

The wine library with samples of Saintsbury vintages since 1981 was hit hard and about 400 bottles were destroyed, while empty barrels came crashing down, creating a big mess.

Mr Ward's wife, Linda Reiff, said "this whole thing was knee deep with solid broken glass."

Harvest at Saintsbury was due to start Monday and Mr Ward said "We'll probably put that off a couple of days."

The quake that struck at 3.20 am on Sunday, local time, was centred 10 km south of Napa and injured dozens of people, damaged historic buildings, set some homes on fire and caused extensive power outages around the picturesque town of Napa.

It was one of the biggest earthquakes to hit the wine region since it emerged as a formidable competitor to French wines in the 1970s, marked by two Napa Valley wines winning the historic 1976 Paris Tasting.

The valley is home today to more than 500 wineries, many of them famous producers of Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

At Silver Oak Winery in Oakville, north of Napa, they lost several hundred bottles of wine, most of them used internally as control bottles for tastings and blends.

"Those bottles were not for sale publicly, but they held really important information to us," said Silver Oak spokesman Ian Leggat.

In downtown Napa, a historic city which had in recent years undergone a big urban renewal to cater to the wine industry and tourism, the quake hit tasting rooms and restaurants which would have been busy on Sunday.

Marguerite Capp, owner of the small winery Capp Heritage Vineyards, was cleaning up her downtown Napa tasting room and said the quake struck at a bad time.

"We are getting ready for the harvest in two weeks. This is going to hurt a tiny bit, and then we are going to get on with it. Mother Nature moves on whether or not we are ready for her," Ms Capp said.

These weeks are the busiest time for both the wine and tourism industries that sustain the bucolic valley located 70 km north of San Francisco.

Domaine Carneros, a maker of sparkling wine founded by the French group Taittinger, was open for business and dozens of visitors milled around the estate chateau even though the property is close to the epicentre.

"Our assistant winemaker says everything looks fine," in the cellar, said Jake Shebitz, assistant manager, who also didn't foresee any problems with the harvest.

Several in the industry said that strict building codes and earthquake recommendations, like never stacking more than six bottles, likely helped limit damage.

But there was concern about losses to warehouses and other wine-related businesses that had sprung up between Napa and American Canyon in recent years to take advantage of nearby highways.

Marsha Herbert, owner of Custom Wine Services in American Canyon, said she lost a couple hundred cases of wine, including some high-end bottles, out of thousands stored in the warehouse.

"To me, it looked awful, because there was wine everywhere," said Ms Herbert. "But when people stopped in to check on their inventory, they didn't think it was that bad."

Ms Herbert estimated it would take until Wednesday for clean-up to be completed and inventory totalled.

Reuters



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/bottle-shoc ... z3BNyfGd7M

[Lord Jim]

kristina is in Santa Rosa iir so the degree of shaking will depend on exactly where she is.

She lives in Petaluma.

Just down the road from Santa Rosa. (And we have friends there).

As stated before, the degree of shaking will depend on local conditions.

Yrs,
Rubato

Just out of curiosity rube...

Do you ever get tired of being a silly, sophomoric, supercilious little prick?

(You needn't answer that, it was a rhetorical question; of course you don't...)

[oldr_n_wsr]

Glad a Ca people are all ok.

[rubato]

Just out of curiosity rube...

Do you ever get tired of being a silly, sophomoric, supercilious little prick?

(You needn't answer that, it was a rhetorical question; of course you don't...)

Hatred makes you stupid.
And it makes it show.


"repetition is the mother of all learning" You'll get it eventually.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Hatred makes you stupid.

Ahh, so that explains it then...

Yet another excellent example of why you don't want your Irony Meter plugged into a rube post...

[rubato]

If you've followed the story you have seen that most of the destruction was in areas with alluvial soil and high water tables (Mare Island?) and especially masonry buildings. The latter are similar to the patterns of damage in the Churchill NZ quake.



Building standards are often (unfortunately) a matter of custom more than intelligent engineering and it takes a long time for building methods transferred to a new place to be modified by experience.

Wood buildings do badly in places with tropical termites and masonry is a bad choice in earthquake country. Some of the earliest California Missions (adobe construction) were heavily damaged by earthquakes multiple times.

"All men learn by experience.
The wise man learns by the experience of others.
The foolish man by his own."

yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

The process of adaptation of building methods to better suit the local environment is not always negative or reactive. When people first started the mass migration to the west coast they initially brought their ideas of how a building is 'supposed' to be built with them; In parts of California you can see homes built which would make more sense in a climate where there was sub-zero temperatures and you need a pitched roof to shed snow built strongly enough to support 3 feet of the stuff. Some people understood that theh difference in climate was an opportunity to think differently about home design. Greene and Greene understood that the more spreading lines of Japanese-influenced houses were better here and later on Eichler (a builder not an architect) pioneered the glass walls, flat roofs, and open plan houses he became known for.






In a mild climate why not open up the interior to the outside? You don't need heavy thick walls to insulate a temperature difference of 100F + between the interior and the exterior.

To get back to earthquakes Eichlers, have done fairly well. They are 1 story, usually, and the lighter roof construction means that there is less inertial mass for the walls to have to support during movement. And slab construction eliminates the problem of shifting the framing off the perimeter or pier-blocks.


I find the whole process of learning and adaptation when human populations move or collide with each other endlessly interesting. And as we are pushed deeper into global climate change we will need to do so more prospectively whereas in the past we changed reactively, after a disaster. It draws in not only engineering changes such as the above, but also social, economic, and political changes. When low-lying areas subject to future flooding are recognised which will be abandoned and their property owners left to fend for themselves and which will be protected by levees and dykes? How will the market for insurance change and in turn how will that change house prices? (Lenders are reluctant to lend if no insurance is avail. So will prices be pushed down as all of them become 'cash sales only'?)



yrs,
rubato


When are we going to get smarter and just tear down all those deathtrap brick buildings?