Earthquake Story

An earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay area Monday morning. It struck at 8:12 a.m.

“A building housing McHenry’s Auto Supply at 2342 Plum St. partially collapsed, killing two people and injuring six others,” Jennifer Vu, a public information officer from the Hayward Fire Department says.

There were many people who died in the earthquake.

“Names of the dead withheld pending notifications of families,” Vu said.

Mike Beamer’s apartment is across the street from McHenry’s, and talks about what he felt during the earthquake.

“Felt a rolling motion that lasted for about 30 seconds, with a big jolt in the middle, ” Beamer said.

Beamer remembers exactly what he was doing the moment the earthquake hit him.

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

Hayward firefighters played a big role in helping with the earthquake.

“Hayward firefighters used ropes to stabilize the auto shop, conducting a search of the building and capped a gas line after detecting a gas leak at the site.”

The earthquake had a high magnitude.

“The epicenter of the earthquake, which had a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale,” according to Penny Gertz.

Penny Gertz is a scientist from the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park.

“It was under the Hayward Hills,” Gertz says where the earthquake occurs.

Gertz describes the earthquake.

“Gertz called the quake a strong one and said it occurred on the Hayward Fault, which runs under the hills.”

Red Cross helped with the survivors of the earthquake.

“Twenty-one fire personnel, 12 police and five American Red Cross workers responded to the building collapse, with arriving within four minutes of the quake,” Vu said.