Community helps ease long recovery from Napa quake
NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- There's still a lot of work ahead to recover from a 6.0 earthquake that severely damaged parts of Napa six months ago Tuesday.
According to the city, 150 buildings remain red-tagged out of the original total of 1,500. The city has issued 1,135 building permits for earthquake repairs, mostly for chimneys and foundations and 443 are complete. Eleven structures were slated for demolition.
Recovery comes in stages.
PHOTOS: Six months after the Napa quake
On First Street there's big plans for forty shops and restaurants and a luxury boutique hotel.
Six months after the big quake, Napa isn't so much a phoenix rising as a community banding together against difficult odds.
The Molinari Caffe is surrounded by ruins on all sides on a street that remains closed.
"People think that if you can't drive you can't walk," said Ally Fields, an employee of the Molinari Caff.
And yet the cafe survives. Loyalty has plenty to do with that.
"Well it's not a chain," David Wexler, a Napa resident said. "There is an owner, a manager we know."
VIDEO: Boy recovering after being injured in Napa Quake
The feeling of community is everywhere, including the Napa Valley Mobile Home Park where, on the day of the quake, four homes burned.
"I believe we are very fortunate," Napa Mobile Home Park manager Darryl Doheny said. "The residents helped each other."
Patricia Trimble, who owns Roost, a downtown store filled with antiques and curiosities, also feels the community spirit.
"I am incredibly strong now. FEMA turned me down twice," Trimble said.
Renewal, it's happening in layers, in stages, and for six months it happened one day at a time.
"Some days it feels like it is happening right now. Some days it feels like feels like it was long ago," Trimble said.
The California Emergency Management Agency is reminding people statewide to be ready for any type of natural disaster.
Residents are encouraged to have emergency kits stocked with items including battery-operated radios, flashlights with extra batteries, a three-day supply of food and water for everyone in the family and a manual can opener.
Click here for full coverage on the South Napa Earthquake.
