Earthquake Story

Monday morning at 8:12 a.m. an earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay area where a building housing McHenry’s Auto Supply at 2342 Plum St, partially collapsed.

Two people were killed and six others injuring according to Jennifer Vu, a public information officer from the Hayward Fire Department.

“Three of the six people injured were hurt seriously enough to require hospitalization and were transported to Hayward General Hospital,” Vu said.

Hayward firefighters were brought in by using ropes to stabilize the shop, where they conducted a search finding a gas leak which they capped.

“Twenty-one fire personnel, and 12 police and 5 American Red Cross worked responded to the collapsing building,” Vu said.

Hayward resident Mike Beamer’s apartment is across the street from McHenry’s.

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

“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,” Beamer said.

Some of the fire personnel, police and American Red Cross responded, arrived within four minutes of the earthquake.

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

The epicenter of the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale according to scientist from the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Penny Gertz.

"It was under the Hayward Hill," Getz said.

The earthquake was felt from as far south as Los Angeles and even as far north as Redding.

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

McHenry’s Auto Supply and the rest of the San Francisco Bay area is lucky they were helped so quickly and efficiently.