Eureka Post Office Damaged

The old Eureka Post Office on H Street, one of the last remaining quality public buildings in the area, damaged in Saturday's earthquake. See post below.

Earthquake Damage

A few more aftershocks over the past 24 hours, but nothing above 3.2. However, there seems to have been more damage than previously thought in Eureka from the Saturday 6.5 quake. Estimates have risen from $12 million to $28 million, affecting more than 200 structures.

One of the buildings sustaining significant damage is the Eureka Post Office, which is now closed and may not reopen, pending a structural inspection, according to the Times-Standard. This is sad news because that building is one of the last remaining public buildings of any worth or beauty in the county. Eureka and Arcata have some of the ugliest public buildings I've ever seen. But the old Post Office, which I'm guessing is a Depression era building, is handsome and well proportioned on the outside, and comparatively pleasant on the inside, with some vintage historical murals. Losing this structure would be a blow.

Earthquake Update

After about 20 aftershocks in the first 18 hours or so--three of them between 4.0 and 4.2-- they ended for awhile at about noon Sunday--until a 4.1 around 10:30 pm. These reportedly have people pretty rattled where they're felt, but again, we're feeling nothing here in Arcata. Our resident HSU earthquake expert, Lori Dengler, told the Times-Standard that there is a 78% chance of a strong aftershock of magnitude 5 or greater within a week.

Dengler also said that the quake had a side-to-side motion, which doesn't result in tsunami.

The T-S story said the maximum shaking was felt in Eureka. There's damage in the millions, still being assessed, and one serious injury reported so far.