hello, i'm ana cabrera in today. thanks so much for joining us as we follow breaking news right now. a state of emergency is in effect. in california, after a strong earthquake hit the san francisco bay area early this morning. just outside of napa, california, about 50 miles from san francisco. it has caused dozens of injuries and significant damage to

buildings, any homes, roads, gas and water lines there. now, here's what we know. the 6.0 magnitude quake hit about seven hours ago around 3:20 a.m. local time. so people were fast asleep. they were jolted from their beds as stuff fell off shelves. again, centered about 6 miles from napa. about 50 miles from san francisco at a depth of about 6.7 miles. several fires broke out. this was right after it hit several buildings, particularly in the downtown napa area have been damaged. including historic buildings like the napa county courthouse. there are damaged homes including five mobile homes that were destroyed from the fires. now, napa officials say rescue teams have been deployed, especially after people became trapped in their homes. at least 87 people have been hurt. at least two, possibly three we're hearing suffered critical injuries, and that includes a child hit by a falling fireplace and had to be airlifted to the

hospital. take a listen to the quake as it was captured on the in-home security system. >> earthquake! it's an earthquake! >> hey. >> it's an earthquake. >> some scary moments. residents telling us that shaking lasted 20 to 30 seconds. these are live pictures right now. some of the damage you can see appears to be a buckled road. a building that has collapsed. we know there are roads that are damaged, power's knocked out to tens of thousands of people. but the public works director of napa saying there were no catastrophic failures like bridges that would have collapsed of some sort. so that was some good news. but they are responding to 50 to 100 reports of gas main breaks as well as 30 water main leaks. the water we're told is still

safe to drink. but this is the strongest earthquake to hit this area since 1989. so it was significant. the white house now says president obama has been briefed on the quake. and federal officials are in touch with the state and the local responders, again, as a state of emergency has been declared within the last half hour. joining me right now on the phone is mark loose, and we have him live on camera with us. thank you so much for taking time to talk with us. i imagine your community is struggling a little bit this morning. how are you doing? and how are the folks there? >> we're very busy. working to assess the situation. we're really thankful there hasn't been a loss of life. we're regretful for those who have been injured. but i think we're very fortunate that it occurred when it did if it occurred during business hours, it could have been a lot worse. >> we have seen the images of the fires that broke out of the

buildings that had bricks fall off. even parts of roofs ripped off. is that the most significant damage you are seeing there? >> it does appear some of this downtown damage that you're seeing now is some of the worst. at least that's the visible damage is we're assessing what's going on with our water mains and our gas lines and our power system. we're learning. so we're in the process of assessing all of our critical infrastructure to see where we stand. >> we've talked to residents who said, wow, we thought this was going to be the big one. this could have been worse than it was. what do you think accounts for the fact there wasn't more significant damage or injuries? is it because of the way california and your region specifically prepares for earthquakes? >> i believe so. some of the damage you see are buildings that have been retrofitted. obviously they didn't do as well as we hoped. a lot of the buildings nearby at least from the outside don't look like they're damaged much at all.

and that's because they meet modern earthquake standards. so, it certainly could have been worse than it is. >> put it into perspective for those of us who don't live there. how does this earthquake compare to those you may have felt in the past? >> well, for napa county, it's the largest by far. it basically just kind of rocked us. this one moved our bed across the bedroom. and so it was very significant here in napa. >> can you tell us more about the injuries? >> as i understand it, a lot of lacerations. i think your report was pretty accurate. i understand there's a few critical injuries, including that young child hit by the falling bricks. but no loss of life. i think overall, we faired pretty well. again, we were lucky it was at 3:20 in the morning. >> we're showing images at the hospital there. the queen of the valley hospital where they have been treating or have treated up to 90 patients.

we talk to the spokesperson there who described triage tents that had been set up. what is your assessment of how emergency responders have responded to this situation? >> so far, so good. we've got great cooperation. we actually had to move our emergency operation center for the county from downtown to our sheriff facility near the airport. but we've got great cooperation from the state in terms of sending inspectors to look at our infrastructure. we've got great support from neighboring communities in terms of ambulances and fire service. so i think everybody's on their toes. this is what we've prepared for here in california. >> and it sounds like people are responding with an all hands on deck mentality. thank you, again, for talking with us this morning. good luck to you and your community there. i'm joined on the phone now by kelly houston, a spokesman for the governor's office of emergency services. just declared a state of emergency. what is the situation like right now?

>> so our state operation center in sacramento, which is about maybe 40 or 50 miles east of napa and that area. we have our state operation center activated where we're looking at all of the resources on a state level that we can bring to assist the local first responders like you've seen. there's just a whole range of emergency first responder problems. whether it's with the fires or water main breaks or with the folks that are injured that are being treated by the hospitals. we dispatched three urban search and rescue teams. if you would see a building collapse, those teams all offer a specialty expertise in rescuing folks that may be involved in anything related to the earthquake. so we have those teams in there. and the governor's proclaimed a state of emergency, and we're working with the state agencies to go out and look at infrastructure where there could be damage to water systems, dams and power that isn't obvious. but we need to make sure that it's expected thoroughly because

there's a lot of damage that doesn't reveal itself until later. >> now, we heard from mike parness not long ago who at the time said there are no people reported missing. but you have activated these three urban search and rescue teams. are there other parts? maybe not in the city of napa where people are still trapped and need help? >> there's a lot of possibilities in an earthquake like this. because like i said, the damage is sometimes not identifiable. or there may be a problem that we didn't catch our local first responders didn't catch. that's why we're moving resources into the area. we did that, actually, within minutes of the actual event occurring early this morning when it was dark. and now as the light has come up, we're seeing a lot more problems than we may have been able to identify earlier in the morning. >> we heard from the usgs that up to 1 million people may have felt moderate to severe shaking, that's a lot of people in a wide

region. can you set the scene for us how widespread the damage is? >> the damage is all over the napa county area and surrounding areas. and the reason we're seeing this widespread damage is because the earthquake was shallower than normal, i guess, probably not a good way to describe it. but it was a magnitude six earthquake but felt like a seven earthquake. and the last major earthquake that occurred in the bay area was a 6.9. what people felt was pretty significant. and in these cases, this fault is a fault that doesn't necessarily have a lot of activity. but it reveals itself like i said in different ways. and we felt it all the way as far away as sacramento. we have folks over in the san francisco, south san francisco, even up in the sierra nevada mountains felt the earthquake. so we see the fires that are burning, the folks that were injured, some of the infrastructure in downtown napa. these older buildings that you

have collapsing fronts to it. but then there's also people that experienced a lot of debris and things that fell off their homes, chimneys and whatnot. it's really hard to predict. an earthquake is something that is still a lot of unknowns to us. and so when we have an earthquake like this in california, we have a whole system that gets activated regardless of what, you know, we think the problem might be. we just say, hey, we don't know what we're going to find, and so we dispatch as many resources as we can to the area. >> all right. we'll let you go so you get back to work. he's with the governor's office of emergency services. thank you for your time. we do appreciate it. he mentioned he's still assessing the damage and residents are bracing for possible aftershocks. there's a 50% chance in the next several hours that this area would see a 5.0 magnitude aftershock. obviously another very significant shaking and hopefully not damaging additional buildings we're already seeing.

we'll have more ahead on the earthquake as well as injuries. after the break, we're going to talk to a hospital representative and hear more specifics about what they're dealing with at this hour. is tough, but i've managed. i got to be pretty good at managing my symptoms, except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor, he said my crohn's was not under control. he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb.

tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. if you're still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

"easy like monday morning."s sundays are the warrior's day to unplug and recharge. what if this feeling could last all week? with centurylink as your trusted partner, it can. our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and dedicated support, your business can shine all week long.

it's now 1:15 in the east. just 10:15 in the west where the folks near the napa valley area are combing through the rubble, some destruction following a 6.0 earthquake in northern california that struck about seven hours ago. i am joined on the phone right now by vanessa, a spokeswoman for the queen of the valley hospital there in napa. which has been treating dozens of patients since this earthquake hit. vanessa, tell us about the

injuries you're seeing right now. >> we've been treating about 90 patients so far today through the emergency room. and the majority of the injuries we're seeing are nonlife threatening. but still serious. lots of lacerations and abrasions. obviously from falling debris and other items due to the earthquake. >> we heard from the governor's office they're seeing even more damage than initially anticipated or what they received reports on. >> we are still seeing a few patients come through. we had two waves this morning. shortly after the earthquake occurred, we had a small wave of patients and another wave came a while later. things have been a little bit quieter at the hospital, but we are still at the ready to receive more patients in case they do find people who are trapped or in different circumstances. >> i want to get some clarification because we've

heard two reports of people critically injured. how many patients are critically injured where you are? >> we had three critically injured patients, two adults and one child. >> and that child does not include the child we learned who was flown to a pediatric hospital? is that correct? >> that is the child. >> and we learned from that press conference with the napa city manager and the operations chief for napa fire department that child was essentially hit by a fireplace that collapsed. are you able to provide any more information? i know with hippa and everything, it's difficult with the privacy laws. but certainly everybody's concerned to learn more about how that child is doing. >> yeah. i do not have details on that. >> okay. is there emergency protocol that you practice for in case of a

quake like this, obviously, being in california. >> we do, we work with a variety of agencies throughout the county and state. so we can practice and be prepared for events like this. obviously we don't want events like this to happen. but we are prepared for them. >> and everything has gone smooth so far, sounds like? >> things have gone quite smoothly. so far, the team's been working hard. doing an excellent job. i think they're doing an excellent job. everybody's been performing very well so far. >> and we've heard there are people from other counties and around the state who are responding to this emergency. have you been in contact with hospitals and other medical centers? and can you tell us have they also been receiving patients? >> i don't have details.

we do stay in contact with the other hospitals. but i don't have details on how other hospitals in the area. >> all right. vanessa, thank you so much for joining us. again, a spokeswoman for the queen of the valley hospital in napa where they are now treating up to 90 patients. three of them who were critically injured, including a child who was airlifted to the hospital and is currently receiving medical treatment. we have crews now spanning the area, our cnn photographer jeff king who lives in the north bay area, is in downtown napa. this is a live image from his camera. on the corner of 2nd and brown outside a restaurant or cafe. and, jeff, take us through what you felt the moment that earthquake struck. >> well, i was sound asleep. >> i awoke to the windows and rattling and sort of the room rattling.

it was a rattling. it didn't last very long, 20 seconds or so. and i immediately got up and got ready to go to work. >> and where you are now, this is considered the downtown area, right? >> yes. i'm right in the heart of downtown napa. we're right along the napa river. as i moved around the neighborhood this morning, just after dawn, i could see widespread damage of not catastrophic. this is one of the worst damaged buildings i saw. you can see that right across the street, up in the corner of the wells fargo, the front of that building is starting to come off. it looks like it may be an older building. and then i'm told by the owner of this building that the ground floor is a wine bar. and had this happened in the daytime in the evening, there are outdoor tables that would have been sitting on that corner. luckily it was at 3:20 in the morning. >> obviously people could have been seriously injured in that case. i guess on the flip side, a lot of people were inside their homes when this happened, which

in many ways was a good thing, it wasn't a chaotic scene on the streets. you're inside a house and there's always the danger of a house collapsing or furniture falling. are you hearing any of those types of horror stories where you are? >> i am. i talked to an 18-year-old who woke up and said when he jumped out of bed, the -- he started to make it to the door when a large dresser fell on him and gashed his leg. he was okay. had some treatment, but he was injured at the tail end of the quake. >> we're looking at some pretty impressive images right now from our affiliate ktvu flying over the napa area where you can see significant damage to a roadway there. it just looks like it's rolled up into itself. we do know reports of several of roads that do have some damage and emergency crews trying to assess exactly what they're dealing with. but no reports of any bridges

that would've collapsed. that is good news. we know of 30 water main leaks, water still safe to drink, the water plants, fortunately, not damaged. and 100 plus gas leaks, connected to the many fires that fire crews have had to respond to. at least six big fires, including one that encompassed about six mobile homes, four of them completely destroyed and two others that had some serious damage. jeff, we've been talking about this being the biggest earthquake to hit northern california since that 1989 quake that hit, it was a 6.9. were you during that time, as well? were you there? in 1989? >> i -- i wasn't. >> okay. >> i wasn't in the area. i just talked to a police officer who said this felt worse than 1989 because it was so much closer. >> in fact, the governor's office of emergency service spokesperson kelly houston said it was a 6.0, but felt like a magnitude 7. so it was a big one.

and you described things rattling where you are. but you were a little bit outside. so we appreciate your reporting there from the ground. and we'll continue to check back in and keep us posted if you hear of new information where you are, as well. >> okay, ana. >> all right, thank you, jeff. jeff king, our photojournalist there in downtown napa responding to the earthquake that struck at 3:20 local time. almost exactly seven hours ago. and he's panning up where you can see buildings that are damaged. this appears to be a mixed use building with some restaurants there on the bottom, perhaps residences on the top. we do know there is damage to some historical sites in napa, including the laundry building, the goodman library, even the napa county courthouse sustained significant damage. and he mentioned that was a wine bar where he is. we all think of napa and think of wine often times because that's a huge part of their

economy there. and we have seen images, you know, crossing twitter and other social media sites of wine bottles and infrastructure related to wineries, damaged, as well. and we hope to be able to talk with folks in the industry about how this is impacting the business and how they plan to recover. that will be straight ahead here on cnn. we also had chad myers bringing new information to you. as we continue to follow the 6.0 quake that rocked northern california today. [rob] so we've had a tempur-pedic for awhile,

but now that we have the adjustable base, it's even better. [evie] i go up...heeeeyyy... [announcer] discover how tempur-pedic can move you. and now through september 7th,save up to $500 on a tempur-pedic mattress and adjustable base.

emergency officials are now dealing with dozens of injuries resulting from this morning's earthquake in northern california. the damage assessment is just beginning. and we have david duncan on the line with me right now. he's the ceo of silver oak

winery which is right there in the heart of napa, not far from the center of this earthquake, which was about 6 miles away. david, thanks for spending some time with us this morning there. i know it's only 10:30. david, walk us through first how everybody's doing. >> well, i think, fortunately everybody at the winery is in good shape and we're in good stead. i know there was some people hurt in napa, and we're, you know, concerned with that. but trying to do what we can here, so. we did have some damage, a few barrels. three barrels fall and some wine bottles went down. and i tweeted a picture this morning, if you've seen that. >> we're showing it to our viewers right now. >> a bit of a mess. >> it's heart breaking to see that image, especially if you are a wine lover but also knowing this impacts your livelihood. you know, we just pulled some numbers from the stone bridge research group. and it's a huge part of the

economy in napa, wine making. $13.3 billion, in fact, in 2011. and we know that your total of 49.7 million cases of wine produced in napa. how big of a hit is this? >> well, i -- fortunately for us, i don't think it will be that big of a hit. i think the, you know, the vineyards certainly were not affected at all. and i know there was some damage to other wineries, i don't have a good assessment of who and what has happened. but fortunately for us, we're in good shape. and, you know, i don't think this will affect the 2014 vintage at all. for those who like us had some broken bottles and stuff. you lose that wine and hopefully there'll be some insurance and we'll move on. >> you know, when we look at those pictures, david, put that in perspective for us. how much wine is lost? for you, personally. >> well, those wines, the

bottles i tweeted a picture of were actually very unique wines at silver oak we blend our wine from several different vineyard sources to make a consistent, beautiful wine every year. and those bottles that i took the picture of were actually the components of that blend. so we don't sell those wines. they're basically single vineyard, silver oak parts and pieces. and so we're -- it's just a tragedy to lose those wines. and, you know, there's no price on those. >> wow. >> and they're completely irreplaceable. >> i know. we're talking probably thousands of dollars, but even more so because there's such a unique blend. >> yes. and there were, hundreds of bottles that were broken, unfortunately. i shovelled them up myself, so i know they were there. >> that's tough. i'm sorry to hear that. thank you for sharing your time

with us, your story with us, and best of luck in the recovery and cleanup. >> okay. thanks so much. >> it is now 1:31 here on the east coast and i want to bring you up to speed. if you are just joining us, we are following breaking news out of california. a 6.0 magnitude earthquake that shook the napa area early this morning. governor jerry brown has declared a state of emergency now in that county. at least 90 people, we know were injured. many of them treated at one hospital there in napa, three people who have some major injuries, three critically injured is what the hospital official tells us, including a young child who had a fireplace fall on top of him or her. fire officials say that girl was badly hurt when that fireplace collapsed and had to be airlifted to the hospital. that's all the information we've been given. fires also destroying several residences there. you can see these intense flames, the images there, fire crews have been inundated with calls, making matters worse, as well, a water main broke right

in downtown napa. thousands of people also experiencing power outages. you can see some damage here in the hardware store. again, this is napa where things fell off the shelves. there's also extensive damage to the wineries in the area. as we were just talking about, speaking with david duncan the ceo of silver oak winery who lost thousands of dollars of wine. i want to bring in chad myers who is joining me now. chad, this quake rattled a lot of nerves and rattled a lot of homes in a widespread area and now they still have to worry about aftershocks. >> the aftershocks are going to be a big problem. and i know we're talking about a 5.0 compared to a 6.0. >> a 5.0 aftershock possibly? >> yes. it's a 6.05. you may be hearing 6.0, 6.1, they haven't decided to round up or round down. but if you get another 5.0 on a building that's already damaged and already has bricks waiting

to fall off, those 5.0 quakes, those aftershocks will definitely make more problems for the people here. and 5.0s typically what you'll get from a 6.0 quake. if you had a 7.0, should be a max 6.0. now, maybe you don't understand how this 5.0, 6.0, 7.0 goes. 5.0 is ten times stronger than a 4.0. a 6.0 is ten times stronger than the five and the seven is ten again and ten again and you keep going up from here. we talk about the east bay, san francisco, down here, down toward the airport. let me take you here from santa rosa back over toward napa. the good news is, it didn't happen in an extremely populated area. about 7 miles from the population of napa but over a place called carneros. kind of a wetland from all the delta, the sludge and stuff that comes down the rivers and creeks, kind of sits there on

the north bay. that's the issue we're having right now in napa. to give you some perspective, a 5.0 to 5.9, you get 1,300 of those a year across the globe. a 6 to 6.9 where we are right now, there's 130 those per year. on three earthquakes about every week when it comes to earthquakes like this across the globe. so they happen a lot. but they happen in the ocean or they happen where people don't live. to get a 6.0 over a populated area, that's where the damage occurred, that's where we're seeing so much media coverage from this because there is so much damage right there in the downtown napa area. >> right. and while we have these earthquakes, the strong of an earthquake happened every year and every week. this area has not experienced one so strong in the past 25 years. the last time was that 6.9 earthquake back in 1989. thanks for explaining all that with us. we do appreciate it.

we'll have more on this earthquake as we continue. but the latest information is about 90 people injured, dozens of homes, businesses, buildings destroyed or damaged because of the earthquake itself. and fires that broke out afterwards. right now, there's a state of emergency that's been declared. the governor putting his emergency response team in place as they are dispatching more teams to the scene to help with surveying damage, assessing the situation and getting to those who may need help. we'll be right back. imagine the luxury... of not being here. the power you want with the fuel economy you dream of. performance with a conscience. this is volvo innovating for you.

to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health.

thanks for staying with us. breaking news coverage continues. that strong earthquake hitting northern california early this morning took out some homes in a mobile home park. and our laura anthony with our affiliate kgo shows us some of the destruction. >> this is the scene at the napa

valley mobile home park where four mobile homes were completely destroyed, burned to the ground in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. first the gas mains broke. then the water lines. when firefighters got here, they had no water pressure. they were unable to put out the fires. all they could do was evacuate residents and try to contain them. they brought in their own water tend tenders. but this and three others a total loss. good news, no injuries, no fatalities at this location. i'm kgo's laura anthony for cnn. >> our thanks to laura anthony. she mentioned the water main breaks not being an issue with firefighters responding as well as the gas lines that were ruptured. at last check, there were 30 water main breaks or leaks that crews are still responding to. and more than 100 gas line reports that there are issues, again, crews are trying to fix to prevent more situations like that. now, earlier, our brian stelter

had a chance to talk to karen lynch, the owner of the inn on randolf. and she was able to show us some of the damage at her inn. and described what it felt like when the ground shook. let's listen. >> it definitely woke us all up. i feel really lucky that all the guests were in bed sleeping. i think everybody was probably safer in their rooms. but it was definitely -- it was no a rolling earthquake where we were. it was definitely a big jolt and tossed us around a little bit. and, you know, sent pictures flying and cabinets opened and lots of -- lots of glass broken. lots of mirrors. but luckily everybody is safe. and we feel really lucky that we had bolted our foundation, putting new foundation and bolted it prior to reopening. so we feel pretty lucky. but there's a lot of --

>> did you lose power at the moment? it's -- it's a little scary. >> at the moment, does the inn have power? >> our power just went back on. there's still a fair amount of smoke in there. there's been some houses that have burned. we're in historic downtown. so downtown. >> yeah. >> has sustained a lot of damage. right where we are. everything's fine, our neighbors are all fine. again, we had a couple of houses that burned but, you know, the fires are out now. >> we're looking at some of the pictures. >> it's light out. people are calming down. >> napa county courthouse, the library among the buildings that have sustained damage. and for you all, it was a saturday night, sunday morning, i'm guessing one of the busiest times of the week at the inn. >> we were completely full. ten rooms and 20 guests and the guests have been amazing. you know, the ones who have been through a quake knew what to do.

and we took care of everybody who hadn't been through a quake. and, you know, it was definitely an experience. we had one person who got engaged yesterday, so i'm sure they'll never forget the day. >> i do wonder, it's 8:30 in the morning, people go there to visit the wineries, i wonder what your guests are telling you they're going to do this morning. >> well, you know, there's a big nascar race, so a couple of the guests were going to that and that is still on in sonoma. and the rest of them were just kind of playing it by ear. we were able to get some breakfast out and everybody was sitting around having coffee trying to decide what to do. couple of guests walked downtown to see what's happening down there. and, you know, i think the day will unfold. >> again, that was karen lynch describing the scene there at her inn in napa. we do know no one has been reported missing. but the governor's office has activated emergency crews to go

to napa county as they continue to survey the damage and destruction that is still becoming more and more evident as it gets lighter and the day p continues. we'll continue here on cnn right after a quick break. we're getting more breaking news on a different story. in fact, our sources are telling us that there was an american held in syria who has just been released. we'll have it for you on the other side of this quick break. stay with us. ♪ ♪ so nice, so ni-i-i-ce ♪ sweet, sweet st. thomas nice ♪ so nice, so ni-i-i-ce ♪ st. croix, full of pure vibes ♪ ♪ so nice, so ni-i-i-ce ♪ st. john, a real paradise ♪ so nice, so ni-i-i-ce

♪ proud to be from the virgin islands ♪ ♪ and the whole place nice to experience your virgin islands nice, book one of our summer packages today. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] during the cadillac summer's best event,

lease this 2014 ats for around $299 a month. hurry in -- this exceptional offer ends soon. ♪

hurry in -- this exceptional offer ends soon. it can help your business save money.

false. the truth is when you compare our fastest internet to the fastest dsl from the phone company, comcast business gives you more for your money. why pay more for less? call today for a low price on speeds up to 150mbps. and find out more about our two-year price guarantee. comcast business. built for business. we welcome our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. breaking news right now, law enforcement sources telling us american peter curtis was just released today in syria. and live now from ferguson,

missouri, as he's been talking to sources joining us with more details. what exactly can you tell us, >> reporter: we're told this american, peter curtis, was released earlier today. the u.s. government was aware of efforts to try to free him. they obviously because of u.s. policy don't negotiate with these type of groups that were allegedly holding him hostage. so this was done through private channels and we're told perhaps a foreign government was in touch with u.s. government earlier today and told them that he had been released. we know that he was being held for some time. we don't know exactly where and which group. obviously there's been a lot of attention recently on isis, which beheaded an american journalist recently. we're working to find out whether the government can tell us what group they believe was holding him. >> that's a good question. i wanted to ask you about that as well. you say he was released. he wasn't necessarily rescued. this was a private deal.

let me bring in nick paton walsh joining me from london. this comes on the heels of the execution of james foley who we know was being held by isis captors. do we have nick or are we going back to evan? >> i'm here. >> what are you hearing about this release? >> well, it's a long and complicated story and involves another american. now, matthew was the cell mate of peter curtis for quite some time. i interviewed him last year about his experiences. let me tell you what we know about peter curtis. matt escaped at some point during the last year but described where he and peter were held for some time. as far as the cellmate, he believes they were held by a group that prescribes as an affiliate of al qaeda and is a terrorist organization of the united states but not as extreme

as isis, the group behind the murder of american journalist james foley. they were held together it seems in the same room for much of the time and that was thought to be in the main city in northern syria, the largest commercial hub of what used to be the syrian economy. the complication arose in that they hatched a plan to escape. matthew and peter executed it one night. matt described to me in the interview he gave the horrifying moment when it appeared he had managed to get out using peter to push himself out of that window. he managed to get freedom. he tried to pull peter out but peter got stuck in the window and matt described the agonizing moment where he had to run. now the news that peter is free. we don't know precise circumstances. who was holding him in the months before his release, what

happened to him after the escape of matt. we don't know those details. we know from what evan is saying that american law enforcement is satisfied he's a free man. we don't know what syrian border he crossed or how this moment came along but certainly another american family extraordinarily relieved tonight. >> it's amazing. we know that james foley was a journalist. do you know, nick, if this peter curtis was a journalist or just a resident in the syria area? >> as far as i understand, he was there, the purpose seemed to have been journalism. there isn't a massive track record of peter curtis appearing in many different publications. you have to bear in mind there are a lot of freelancers who operate in the turkish northern syria area and were back in the time of october 2012 when he first went missing. we don't precisely know where he was abducted. there are suggestions perhaps it

may have been closer to the turkish side of the border. it's complicated. details have been kept out of the public domain for so long to facilitate these kind of kidnap negotiations. you are trying to delicately arrange the freedom of someone held hostage, you don't need media reporting on how that's going. it does appear he's a free man and that will be a huge relief for his loved ones and also for matthew who a lengthy period of time had to deal with the choice he made of leaving peter curtis in that cell unavoidable situation. >> we're happy to here that american peter curtis has been released by the islamic rebels who were holding him hostage in syria as we work to gather more information about details of his release and exactly who was holding him. we appreciate your reporting as we learn a little bit more from who was his cellmate at one time while he was held in syria. nick paton walsh, thank you so much. also worth mentioning that as we

cover journalists, freelancers, people being held in this region by different terrorist organizations, today is a memorial for james foley who we know was killed by his hostage takers of isis. that memorial set to happen any minute in new hampshire. thoughts with his family and friends as well. we'll continue to follow that breaking news and our earthquake coverage. the 6.0 earthquake that happened early this morning in northern california. the biggest, strongest hurricane in the past 25 years in that region. we'll talk about that on the other side of this break. [evie] i go up...heeeeyyy... [announcer] discover how tempur-pedic can move you. and now through september 7th,save up to $500 on a tempur-pedic mattress and adjustable base.

hello. thank you so much for joining us. a lot to talk about as we are

following two breaking news stories at this hour including the release of an american held hostage? syria. we're gathering more information on that. we're also following new information that is emerging after a 6.0 earthquake hit northern california this morning. the governor has now declared a state of emergency after that strong earthquake struck near the san francisco bay area. it caused dozens of injuries and significant damage as you can see there. brings that fell onto roadways, to sidewalks, roads buckled, homes destroyed, gas and water lines ruptured. here's what we know right now. the 6.0 magnitude quake hit eight hours ago just about at 3:20 a.m. local time. the pacific time zone. people were rudely awakened to say the least. centered about six miles from napa as we put up a map here. roughly 50 miles from san francisco between two major fault systems. fires broke out right after this