SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA HIT BY STRONGEST EARTHQUAKE IN 25 YEARS; WINE COUNTRY SHAKES (Source Zero Hedge) As Reuters reports, and as thousands felt early in morning 8/24/14, an earthquake of 6.0 magnitude, the largest in the region for 25 years, shook the San Francisco Bay Area, waking residents and causing some power outages and minor damage, according to initial reports. NBC Bay Area reports that The Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa has admitted 70 patients but their injuries are not expected to be serious. Randy Baldwin, a USGS geophysicist, said the tremor was potentially damaging because it was close to populated areas. He added the USGS was starting to receive reports of some damage in the city of Napa, mostly masonry and some structural damage, as well as power outages. Local CBS news said that several fires had broken out in Napa, which is famous as a wine-growing center. A safety dispatcher for several cities, including American Canyon and Napa, said there were reports of people losing power. The question now is whether the aftershocks, which can continue for the next several weeks and which experts will watch their distribution to determine if this quake happened on a fault line, will morph into something even stronger.