We read a lot about how climate change might hurt Napa’s wine industry and we read a lot about how fracking might cause earthquakes in California, but it looks like businesses in Northern California were not prepared for the certainty of an earthquake caused by the natural process of plate tectonics.
For example, here’s the damage at Bouchaine Vineyards via the Washington Post:
I grew up in California. Every bookcase was secured to a wall and we were never allowed to hang as much as a picture over our beds lest they get disturbed by even a minor earthquake.
Not all businesses were so unprepared, however. Via the Los Angeles Times:
Duncan of Silver Oak said his main storage room, where hundreds of barrels are kept, was largely unharmed. He was able to salvage three barrels that fell to the ground and leaked.
“We had a fire in 2006, so we rebuilt things to withstand an earthquake,” Duncan said. “It worked very well.”
In the next few weeks, the shock of what happened in Napa will wear off and the enviros will be back in the news pitching their apocalyptic climate scenarios. And as we’ve just seen, California is not fully prepared for the real risks the state faces, and that is truly alarming.