Two dead as quake hits central California ( 2003-12-23 09:34) (Agencies)
An earthquake rocked California's central coast
Monday and shook the state from Los Angeles to San Francisco, collapsing old
downtown buildings in this small town and killing at least two people in the
rubble.
The 11:16 a.m. quake — its magnitude measured at 6.5 — pitched the roof of
Paso Robles' 1892 clock tower building into the street, crushing a row of parked
cars in this San Luis Obispo County town about 20 miles east of the epicenter.
Resuce workers rush to
remove bricks from crushed cars under the remains of a collapsed two-story
building in Paso Robles, Calif., following an earthquake Monday, Dec. 22,
2003. [AP]
It was the most powerful quake to strike California since a 7.1 quake rocked
the desert near Joshua Tree more than four years ago. No one was killed in the
1999 quake.
The main shock Monday was centered in a sparsely populated area about 11
miles north of the coastal town of Cambria. It was immediately followed by at
least 50 aftershocks larger than 3.0, the biggest of which was estimated at 4.7,
according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake shook the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, the estate of the legendary
publisher William Randolph Hearst. The castle — a particularly popular tourist
attraction this time of its year because of its Hearst family Christmas
ornaments — reported no injuries and no immediate signs of any serious damage
but was evacuated as a precaution.
The quake also rocked the federal courthouse in San Francisco, 165 miles to
the northwest of the epicenter, and sent the building's upper floors swaying for
about 30 seconds. People in downtown Los Angeles, 185 miles southeast, felt a
sustained rolling motion.
"It was pretty sharp," said Sharyn Conn, receptionist at the oceanside
Cypress Cove Inn in Cambria, population 6,200. "It really went on and on. I just
got everyone under the door frames and rode it out."
In Paso Robles, a town of 25,000 people in a region dotted with wineries and
horse ranches, firefighters dug through the debris of the collapsed row of
stores in the clock-tower building.
The bodies of two women, ages 55 and 19, were found outside a dress shop,
said police Sgt. Bob Adams, while two people with minor injuries were pulled
from a bakery. No names were immediately released.
"We're still in rescue mode and trying to find additional victims," Adams
said at midafternoon. "The good news is that at this point, we have no confirmed
missing person."
Nick Sherwin, 61, who operated Pan Jewelers in the building, said he had
ordered five employees and eight customers out, but "the big jolt hit" when he
was about 10 feet from the door.
"My roof basically jumped onto the street and landed on cars with people in
them," Sherwin said as he watched firefighters recover the bodies. The cars "are
crushed like little toys, nothing left."
Marilyn Curry watched the buildings collapse from her law firm across the
street, then ran to a city park where people were frantically searching for
others they knew.
"There were people shouting outside 'Oh my God, Oh my God,'" she said.
"Everybody was just shaking, then we were all just grabbing onto each other.
"There was a lot of hugging going on. We were all just accounting for each
other: 'Have you seen so and so? Have you seen so and so?'"
Other than Paso Robles, damage appeared minor elsewhere in the region.
Several people were reported hurt by falling barrels at a winery, San Luis
Obispo County authorities said.
About 10,000 homes and businesses were without power in the San Luis Obispo
area, said John Nelson, spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric. Phone service
became spotty as the system quickly became overloaded.
At the Hearst Castle, the only known damage was a blown transformer in the
campground below the hill, said Roy Stearns, spokesman for the state Department
of Parks and Recreation. But a crew was being organized to go through each of
the castle's 150 rooms to look more carefully.
The quake was felt in the control room of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power
plant operated by PG&E. Nelson said that there appeared to be no damage to
the plant and that it was functioning normally, but officials would conduct a
"walk-through" to be sure.
The quake struck in a known fault zone on a series of faults that run
parallel to the San Andreas Fault, said Lucy Jones, scientist in charge of the
U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena.
"It's luckily on the coast — there is not very much nearby. That's a good
thing," she said.
The last one of a similar size in the area was in 1952, said Ross Stein of
the USGS in Menlo Park.
"This probably shook strong enough you would expect all kinds of damage to
the contents of houses," said Tom Heaton, professor of earthquake engineering at
the California Institute of Technology. He added landslides were also possible.
Superintendent Pamela Martens of the Coast Unified School District in Cambria
said school was already recessed for the holidays and there were no reports of
injuries among staff.
"Right now we're seeing things off the shelf and all over the place.
Computers are down," she said.
