Magnitude 6.5 earthquake shakes California, kills at least two

Resuce workers rush to remove bricks from crushed cars under the remains of a collapsed two-story building in Paso Robles
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By: - Associated Press

PASO ROBLES, Calif. - 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 with a third death reported.

The 11:16 a.m. quake - its magnitude measured at 6.5 - pitched the roof of Paso Robles' 1892 clock tower building into a street, crushing a row of parked cars in this San Luis Obispo County town about 20 miles east of the epicenter.

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.

Firefighters dug through the debris in front of a row of stores in Paso Robles, a town of 25,000 people in a region dotted with wineries and horse ranches.

Nick Sherwin, 61, who operated Pan Jewelers in the collapsed 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."

Two people were confirmed dead in Paso Robles, said Ron Alsop, emergency services coordinator in the largely rural county of about 250,000 people. A third person was missing there, he said.

The main shock was centered about 11 miles north of the coastal town of Cambria and was immediately followed by at least five aftershocks of magnitude larger than 3.3. The biggest was estimated at 4.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites).

The quake 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. It was felt as a sustained rolling motion in downtown Los Angeles, 185 miles southeast.

"It was pretty sharp," said Sharyn Conn, receptionist at the oceanside Cypress Cove Inn in Cambria. "It really went on and on. I just got everyone under the door frames and rode it out."

Several people were reported hurt by falling barrels at a winery, San Luis Obispo County authorities said.

Other than Paso Robles, damage appeared minor elsewhere in the region.

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.

Cambria is a town of 6,200 on the northern coast of San Luis Obispo County. The area's major landmark is Hearst Castle at San Simeon, the estate of the legendary publisher William Randolph Hearst.

Hearst Castle reported no injuries and no immediate signs of any serious damage but was evacuated as a precaution, said Roy Stearns, spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation. The castle is particularly popular this time of year because it is decorated with the Hearst Christmas ornaments.

The only known damage was a blown transformer in the campground below the hill, Stearns said. 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 (news - web sites) 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.