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Seismic Testing Systems
ANCO Engineers, founded in 1971, has performed seismic shake table testing on over 500 components used in power plants, telecommunication facilities, industrial facilities, and consumer products. ANCO also constructs and installs shake tables and other seismic test systems. Additional information on ANCO can be found at ancoengineers.com.

The results of testing Quake Guardian clearly showed that the Quake Guardian was able to protect the wine bottles from falling out at much larger earthquakes than the conventional wine rack. The Quake Guardian protected the bottles from several earthquakes of increasing size. It was clear that the conventional wine rack could spill out bottles during moderate earthquake events.

ANCO’s observations also suggest the following:

• When mounting any wine rack to a wall make sure to use strong anchors or lag screws into the wood studs. The use of small plastic anchors or Molly type bolts into drywall only may not provide sufficient strength to keep the wine rack on the wall during a strong earthquake. Keeping the wine bottles in the rack is a very important requirement. But one must also keep the wine rack on the wall.
   
• ANCO also recommends that a sheet of drywall, plywood, or similar “soft” material be placed between the wine rack and the wall, if the wall is brick, concrete, or masonry. Earthquake induced motion of the wine bottles in the rack, even if they do not fall out, cause the bottles to knock against the back wall and could cause bottle breakage.
   
• ANCO also recommends that after an earthquake that both the wine rack anchorage and the “hoop and coils” of the Quake Guardian be inspected for possible loosening or damage, and replaced as needed. After a large earthquake it may be prudent to automatically replace all the hoops and coils.

Is a powerful quake likely to strike in the next 30 years?
From the USGS

A Wake-Up Call for the California Wine Industry
By Mick Winter

On September 3, 2000 a real earthquake demonstration was held in the Napa Valley, but no stacks of barrels collapsed. The quake measured 5.2 in magnitude. Its epicenter was in the hills west of the Napa Valley, three miles west-southwest of the town of Yountville, and nine miles northwest of the city of Napa.

While not a major earthquake, the "Yountville Quake" caused extensive damage in the city of Napa. In fact, the damage was much greater than one would expect for the size of the quake.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the "Peak shaking levels in the city of Napa were amplified five to eight times relative to a station located in the mountains less than a mile from the earthquake epicenter. Both the high levels and local amplification help explain the surprising concentration of earthquake damage through the city."

While earthquake shaking levels depend on the distance from the earthquake source, the high level of ground shaking in Napa also appears to be the result of two other factors: first, the amplification of shaking by young sediments along the Napa River, and second, the focusing of strong motion to the southeast, the direction the earthquake rupture propagated.

There are a lot of people who believe that the Sonoma and Napa Valleys are isolated from earthquakes. This one showed we can have a serious quake right here. And it was on an unknown fault. Yet seismologists report that the fault with the highest probability of a 7.0 or higher earthquake in the next 30 years is the Rodgers Creek Fault, which is west of the Napa Valley and is actually the north section of the Hayward Fault. According to the USGS, the Rodgers Creek Fault has a 32 percent probability of experiencing a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake in the next 30 years. This is the highest probability of any fault in the San Francisco Bay Area."

"If the Yountville Quake had been a 5.4 instead of a 5.2--which in terms of energy released would be four times as powerful--we would have seen a whole different level of damage.