At 3 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 24, a magnitude-6.0 earthquake centered in the American Canyon, about 9 kilometers south of the city of Napa, awoke much of northern California. The next day, television newscasts focused on damage sustained by a small number of unreinforced masonry buildings in Napa, fire damage to mobile homes in a trailer community, some older wood-frame homes that shifted off their foundations and extensive loss of wine inventory due to failed wine-aging storage tanks and casks.
But contrary to the impression conveyed by the television news and other media, there's good reason to be pleased with the way buildings performed.