NAPA (KRON) – Saturday marks five years since a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit South Napa.
It was a peaceful start to an eventful Saturday Downtown Napa with the Blues Brews and BBQ event happening to bring hundreds to the area.
While it’s a day to celebrate, just five years ago, things looked a lot different.
The 6.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed buildings made of brick, killed one person and injured hundreds.
Security video showed how strong the tremors were.
Since the earthquake, the USGS has been spending a lot of time and effort studying the North Bay and looking for any unknown faults.
The work continues to hopefully identify any potential dangers and understand how another big earthquake could affect the region.
In Downtown Napa, though it’s thriving once again, many businesses haven’t reopened or finished repairs from years ago.
One Napa resident, Karen Wesson, remembers the earthquake quite vividly.
She also has been restoring an old townhome destroyed by the quake.
“It’s hard to believe its really been 5 years there’s still a lot of places downtown that haven’t been brought back to places they were before but we have really come a long way and it’s looking great,” Wesson said.
Some residents say there’s no way they could forget such a devastating disaster but the community has become stronger from it.