California earthquake strikes fear The Big One is coming

BUILDINGS swallowed by faultlines, entire cities rolling into the ocean and the end of everything. California’s 6.0 magnitude earthquake is a reminder The Big One is coming.

A building is partially collapsed due to a 6.0-magnitude earthquake, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014, in Napa, Calif. A large earthquake rolled through California's northern Bay Area early Sunday, damaging some buildings, igniting fires, knocking out power to tens of thousands and sending residents running out of their homes in the darkness. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

BUILDINGS swallowed by faultlines, entire cities rolling into the ocean and the end of everything.

It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when” for Californians, who live in fear of The Big One — a huge earthquake anticipated as inevitably striking the vulnerable West Coast state.

Rubble on streets as many old building facades came crashing down pic.twitter.com/PYhEBGJ6gn

— Suzanne Espinosa (@suzyesp) August 24, 2014

And as a huge earthquake rolled into the state on the early hours of Sunday morning, fears that this was it came with it.

California is in a state of emergency after being rocked by the region’s biggest earthquake in 25 years.

Up to 120 people have been hospitalised with three believed to be critically injured, and as many as 20 buildings in the wine country rendered uninhabitable after the 6.0 magnitude earthquake rumbled through the northern Bay Area.

My cousin said he felt the Napa quake downtown in San Fran this morning. Hope this isn't a precursor to the big one. #CaliforniaAlarmClock

— Kevin Rainey (@BamaKevin) August 24, 2014

The earthquake triggered fires, knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and damaged buildings as residents endured more than 10 aftershocks that struck the city within an hour of it hitting.

It’s the biggest earthquake to hit the region since 1989 where a 6.9 magnitude quake in Loma Prieta killed more than 60 people.

The state had another scare this afternoon when another earthquake hit San Pedro, LA.

So far no injuries or damage have been reported after the 3.3 magnitude earthquake.

Mobile home park fire in Napa. #AmericanCanyonQuake pic.twitter.com/zaSDfpoaXB

— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) August 24, 2014

What happened overnight was bad, but it wasn’t “the big one”.

California sits on the southern end of the famed and feared San Andreas Fault.

Residents of the area fear a much more fierce earthquake on the fault line hitting around 8 on the Richter scale, and this earthquake was a reminder to residents that region is long overdue for seismic catastrophe.

A worker cleans up a party supplies store hit by the earthquake in Napa, California.

The last rumble to reach this level of impact, in San Francisco in 1906, claimed more than 3000 lives.

With significant earthquakes expected every 50 — 150 years, and a lull in earthquake activity at San Andreas’ southern sector, Californians live in fear the The Big One could strike at any time.