ABAG sends its sympathy and concern to the North Bay communities hit by the South Napa earthquake, especially to those that have been injured, and have sustained damage to their homes and businesses. We are working together to provide as much support as we can. ABAG recognizes the outstanding work, effective coordination, proper support and strong community spirit of the City and the County of Napa.
At 3:20 AM (local time) on Sunday, August 24, 2014, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck, centered near American Canyon in Napa County. Unreinforced masonry buildings, mobile homes, single family homes, and infrastructure systems all sustained damage in the earthquake.
The California Earthquake Clearinghouse immediately organized teams to survey and report on the damage from the earthquake. Reports and photos from the field can be found on the virtual clearinghouse. ABAG also responded by participating in the field reconnaissance efforts, sharing lessons learned from Napa with ABAG's elected officials from other communities, and will be working with local governments in the coming weeks to support resilience building efforts for future earthquakes.
The South Napa earthquake portal provides a list of actions that local governments and residents can take now to prepare for earthquakes, and a digest of the pertinent media coverage compiled for members to use. There is also a toolkit compilation of disaster recovery and resilience policies, regulations and materials to support current planning, the latest on housing and community risk assessments, and a section on infrastructure and airport resilience.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, ABAG is sponsoring a public policy symposium, Loma Prieta 25: Still on Shaky Ground--Building Bay Area Resilience, on Thursday, October 16th, at Oakland's Kaiser Center.
Visit the conference site for more information and to register.
Community and business leaders are encouraged to join this critical regional gathering and support the policy recommendations for safer communities that ABAG and its partner agencies have developed for implementation.