Earthquake Story

A powerful earthquake rocked San Francisco Bay area residents on Monday morning at 8:12 a.m., PDT.

The earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, caused a building housing McHenry’s Auto Supply in Hayward at 2342 Plum Street to collapse partially, killing two people and injuring six others.

“I was eating my breakfast when the room started rolling. I dove under the table just as I heard an explosion outside and a chunk of cement flew through my kitchen window. That’s when the screaming start across the street,” Hayward resident, Mike Beamer said.

The names of the dead are being withheld while the notification of their families is pending, and three of the six people injured were seriously hurt enough to be transported and hospitalized at the Hayward General Hospital. There have been no other reports of serious injuries in Hayward, however.

Beamer’s apartment is just across from McHenry’s, and he said he felt a rolling motion that lasted for about 30 seconds, with a big jolt coming in the middle.

There was a quick response to the collapse of McHenry’s auto shop, twenty-one fire personnel, twelve police officers, and five American Red Cross workers arriving the on the site of the collapsed building.

The personnel arrived within four minutes of the quake, said Hayward Fire Department public information officer, Jennifer Vu.

 The earthquake was felt by people as far north as Redding and as far south as Los Angeles. Firefighters used ropes to stabilize the auto shop, conducted a search of the building for victims, and a gas line had to be capped after a gas leak was detected.

The earthquake was a “strong one,” said Menlo Park’s U.S. Geological Survey scientist, Penny Gertz. Its epicenter was beneath the Hayward Hills along the Hayward Fault, which runs beneath the hills.