A Maltese family living in northern California were out on a camping trip on Sunday when an earthquake caused the chimney of their home to collapse.
Louis Vella, Malta’s honorary consul in San Francisco, said that as soon as the earthquake occurred, at 3.10am (12.10pm in Malta), he started contacting Maltese families who lived close to the tremor’s epicentre – a touristic area called American Canyon.
Most Maltese in the area live close to San Francisco, which is about 50 kilometres away from the epicentre of the 6.0 magnitude earthquake.
Most felt the tremor and described doors shaking and chandeliers rattling, Mr Vella told Times of Malta.
Most felt the tremor and described doors shaking and chandeliers rattling
Families who lived closer to the epicentre talked of beds shaking and their dogs barking, he said.
He then tried contacting a family who lived in American Canyon and found that they were not home at the time of the quake as they had gone on a camping trip.
When he managed to reach them they told him they had returned as soon as they heard about the earthquake to find that, thankfully, their home was still standing and “liveable” – although the chimney had fallen off and has to be rebuilt.
He explained that following an earthquake, houses were inspected and tagged.
A red tag meant the building was dangerous, a yellow tag meant residents could go in and get their belongings and a green tag meant it was liveable.
Mr Vella said he was trying to contact another Maltese family who lived nearby in Napa, which was also impacted.
This was the second big earthquake experienced by Mr Vella, who has been living in San Francisco for about 34 years. The BBC reported that this was the strongest felt in the area for 25 years.
While there were no reported fatalities, more than 80 people were injured in the Napa area, a renowned wine-producing region and tourist area. California governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in order to deal with the effects of the quake.
Mr Vella said there were multiple reports of injuries, building fires and structural damage in the immediate area where the earthquake hit.