Earthquake Measuring 6.0 Rattles Bay Area

An earthquake of magnitude 6.0  rocked northern San Francisco Bay area in California on  Sunday.

The earthquake struck at 3.20 a.m. and tumbled buildings, damaged streets, ruptured gas and water lines and put around 170 people in to hospitals for injuries.

The earthquake, centered around six miles south of the city of Napa, is the largest in the past 25 years to strike the Bay area since the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in 1989. The Loma Prieta quake measured 6.9 and killed 63 people causing $ 6 billion indamages, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the area and directed the state agencies for rescue efforts.

At least 120 people with minor injuries from the falling debris were treated at the Emergency room at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, said Vanessa deGier, a hospital spokeswoman, according to The New York Times.

Though no deaths have been reported till Sunday evening, a child who was crushed by a falling fireplace and three other people are in a critical condition.

The heaviest damage by the quake was caused in downtown Napa, due to the large sections of bricks falling from the courthouse and other historic buildings.

While the retrofits on some older buildings did not hold resulting in huge chunks of bricks and concrete falling in to the sidewalks, three other buildings, which had not been retrofitted were severely damaged, reports The New York Times.

Parts of the city still smelled of natural gas Sunday evening, and around 600 homes were without water.

Around  30,000 people  lost power, but it was restored in large sections of the area, around 7000 homes were still in the dark, most of them in Napa, said Pacific Gas and Electric spokesman J.D. Guidi, according to The Seattle Times.

Though workers were repairing the lines, he was not sure when full power would be restored.