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Subscribe to RSSBack-to-back earthquakes rattled northern California Monday morning, triggering an early start to the work week for some in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area.
The stronger quake -- at a 4.0 magnitude -- was centered one mile north of El Cerrito in the East Bay and 10 miles north-northwest of Oakland. It struck at a depth of 5.7 miles at 5:33 a.m. PT, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It came about seven seconds after a 3.5 temblor -- known as the foreshock -- hit in nearly the same location at a depth of five miles.
"There were two earthquakes … and since then there have been a lot of little aftershocks, which is totally to be expected, down in the magnitude 2.0 range,” Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the USGS' National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, told msnbc.com.
The USGS website initially appeared to show two quakes, then one temblor in the immediate aftermath -- and some people wrote on Twitter that they felt two.
"It’s always difficult to split quakes this close together," Blakeman said, noting that automatic systems first upload the information, which quake analysts then have to review.
“I think part of the interest today is the fact that it’s been a little while since we had even a 4.0 in the Bay Area," he noted. "I think (it) kind of reminded everybody that California still has earthquakes.”
No damage was reported, the California Highway Patrol's Central Division said on Twitter. Blakeman said they haven't had any direct reports of damage.
"For a magnitude 4.0 quake we’ll probably get some reports of things falling off of people shelves and ... maybe a window cracked here and there, something like that, but shouldn’t be anything major,” he said.
Christine Cosgrove, who lives in Berkeley -- about four miles north of the epicenter, told the San Francisco Chronicle that "a big chunk of our chimney fell down. For us, this was the strongest earthquake we've felt in 22 years in the house. Other items fell off window sills and broke."
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stopped all trains where they were for at least five minutes as part of standard procedure, said communications director Jim Allison. A later inspection of the 104 miles of track did not turn up any problems, he added.
The shaking sent many to Twitter to comment on the small tremors:
"Here in Mill Valley, heard rumble of quake 1, then a second later, the hard hit of quake 2. Both were sharp pops with little after-roll," wrote Stephen Bové.
"(W)orked better than coffee 5:45am," quipped Maritza Ruiz-Kim.
"My shaky wake up call seemed to last for 30 sec+," said Amanda Walter.
"Was in airport shuttle during the quake. But now everyone else in SF is awake obscenely early, too!" exclaimed Zoelle Egner.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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A little shake seems better to me than that pesky alarm clock going off :)
Glad everyone is ok!
A 4.0 is a minor temblor for the west cost. In other areas this might be a big deal, but in CA this is much ado about nothing.
??? I didn't feel a thing.
That's what she said...
Shake it up baby! Let's twist and shout! Mother Nature just getting ready for spring.
JS in SD,
A 4.0 anywhere in the world is not a minor temblor. This could very well be the beginning of something big to come. When Japan got hit they had the same type of temblor's days / hours before. Please dont think this is "normal". Also if you look around the bay area over 5 (1.5+) quakes have been recorded over the last couple hours. The ground is moving.
must be slow news day 4.0 is like a truck driving by
the vons - JS in SD is right. These happen all the time, especially over there in the East Bay on the Hayward Fault. Do you live up in the Bay Area? A 4.0 is a minor incident at worst and when you say that 5 (1.5+) quakes have been recorded over the last couple of hours, I would point out that 1.5+ quakes( that no one feels) happen all the time here...all the time and most likely those are simple aftershocks.
Only the ones who just moved there, I'd wager.
It shook me awake, but I'm less than 4 miles from the epicenter. I went back to sleep and missed the aftershocks...
beats the heck out of a alarm clock.
@ PDK - LOL I was thinking the same thing. I got to the point that I'm not sure I would have awakened for a 4.0 or maybe awoke but fell right back to sleep.
@the vons - There are literally a dozen or more of 1.5 magnitude quakes recorded in CA on a daily basis, these are so common no one pay any attention to them. Seeing five in the bay area over a couple of hours happens fairly frequently. As for 4.0 quakes, we probably get at least one a week in CA - these are also no big deal. From your comments I get the feeling that you do not live in CA and have no idea what the norm is when it comes to quakes out here.
Is this news? Ho hum.
Thanks, Gneisenau. I lived in the Bay Area back in the mid-80's to the early 90's - experienced a lot of quakes in that time, including the big "Loma Prieta" quake back in '89 . . . now that one was scary. 4.0 is nothin'.
This was a baby earthquake. Expect more to come and probably a higher magnitude.
While working in Japan in 1978, I experienced a 7.7 quake. I ran out of the building I was working in to see if our 230 ft microwave tower was still standing.
And during this past New Years day, I was visiting friends in the Mt. Fuji foothills when a 6.3 aftershock occurred.
Both quakes were pale in comparison to what happened during the earthquake off Fukushima and the surrounding Prefectures last year.
Nothing to see/feel here folks, move along.
Just another day in California.
4.0, very doable, not much different than a big truck rumbling past in the street out in front of your house. I'd Rather have 10 4.0's than one big fat 10.0 because I live in the shadow of the San Onofre nuclear power plant down by San Diego.
Wakie Wakie..Shake Rattle and Roll.
This beats an alarm clock anyday.
@ PDK - I went through the North Ridge quake but I was down in OC. It was a ways away but it seemed worse where I lived because it felt like the shock wave hit the sand/water interface and rebounded back at us. (Not like a p wave/s wave thing.) I woke up and then fell back to sleep.
4.0 thats nothin compared to the 6.7 quake we had in NY last year
I went through the 7.2 quake in 2010 here in So. Cal. Didn't feel it at all. We were in the car. My mom was calling me to ask if we were okay and I replied, "Why wouldn't we be?"
It's easy to be blase when you live here. But I can imagine how unsettling it would be if you live elsewhere and aren't used to the earth rolling. I remember being in Quito and we had an earthquake. The others were running into the hall or standing in the doorway. When asked why I just sat on the bed I said, "Sugar please, it was 5.0 at best."
@ Lola - I haven't lived in SoCal in years. I went back a couple of years ago and felt every tremor. It didn't worry me at all, but still I felt everyone.
I live in San Francisco. The quake certainly woke up everyone in my household.
I lived here in 1989 and felt the 6.9 earthquake. Ever since then, I find pretty much every quake scary as I am waiting for the shaking to get worse. Thankfully, today was not the day.
But California is still here!?
Steely Dan says(sings) it best, 'California tumbles into the sea'.
I did'nt feel a darn thing. But living in So. Cal. I'll take a few shake rattle and rolls anyday, compared to what the people have gone through with the tornadoes and now snow. We are prepared for the big one, are you?
4.0 earthquakes are common in SoCal, and are not a sign of a 'big one to come', as one alarmist poster said. It's just faults letting off steam.
It's much more dangerous for there to be none of these, allowing too much pressure to build.
Also, contrary to what some think (and hope, shame on you), California can't 'fall into the ocean' even if a massive quake hits. The land is not constructed that way. What WOULD happen is that many good people would lose their lives or their livelihoods, and folks who are hoping that this will happen should be ashamed of themselves.
Anywhere else in the country this is news. I live in SF and didn't notice a thing. Guess quakes need to be at least a 6.0 to register with folks here.
be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Do I hear 8.2? Going Once. Going Twice.
Glad you are okay,mean two. There were actually two earthquakes............a 4.0 and 6 minutes later a 4.3. Weird way to wake up. But then it does get the adrenalin going., You didn't even feel it?
Don't Cali earthquakes realize that "snooze" is 9 minutes long, not 6?
Mean two -- me, too -- I live in SoCal. The headline says "4.0 magnitude quake shakes Californians awake."
I say, only if they just moved here or are tourists. I've slept through bigger ones than that. Yawn. Not even worth reporting, folks.
I agree with your comment. I now live in PA but I was born,raised and lived 50 years in CA. A 4.0 is nothing there, most people probably didn't even feel it. I do remember the Northridge quake, we felt that pretty good even in Ventura county.Actually CA is shaking a little somewhere all the time. No big deal.
Optomyst - I think that there ended up being only one. I can't find a reference to that second one anymore on the USGS site. I saw that too earlier today and it seems to have been updated down to just the one.
I agree. We live in the ring of fire everyone. Earthquakes are just part of the package of living on the West Coast. So happy Monday everyone.
lol at all the macho Californians thumping their chests about how earthquakes don't faze them - that's like a midwesterner laughing at EF1 tornadoes but then screaming for pity and demanding you PRAY for them when an EF4 or 5 rolls through.
Don't come on here looking for sympathy when an 8.0 or bigger ruins your day, guys.
Chris - Very sorry to hear about all the bad tornadoes you are getting in the mid-west. I have relatives in Buffalo, Mo.. Not everybody is thumping their chest out here, just heaving a sigh of relief. We ALL, ME included, out in California have a feeling of panic and helplessness when an earthquake first starts because we DON'T know if it is the big one. I think the playing it down is from nervous laughter that it WASN't the big one. Anyway, I always feel relief after a small earthquake, better a few of those instead of the one big one. I live down by the San Onofre nuclear reactor in San Diego County so I am nervous at the feeling of ALL earthquakes. Peace.
Really, this is National news, let alone local news???? This is the California Bay Area, aka Earthquake country! Some areas get 4.0's literally every single week!
lol at all the macho Californians thumping their chests about how earthquakes don't faze them
An earthquake by itself is not a crisis, anymore than a regular thunderstorm is one. A severe earthquake, just like tornadoes, is something very different, and all natural tragedies that result in human suffering are worthy of sympathy.
Californians don't freak out about small earthquakes because they are not a threat to life and property, just like folks living in tornado belts or along the coast don't worry about every storm that blows in. That's all it is, and it's strange to us how the rest of the country has the vapors about a small roller.
Those first few moments might be worrisome, but when it turns out to be nothing, you get on with your life and move on. And a 4.0 is generally nothing to be worried about, and out here, pretty common.
Chris, I have never heard anyone out here demanding that we pray for them during an EF4 or EF5 and I haven't seen many people just shrugging off an EF1. It may be the same thing as folks in CA. not worrying so much about a 4.0 earthquake. Once you realize the buildings not down around your ears it is just a total sense of relief. I don't think last years 5.6 earthquake here in OK. would have woke me up as I became used to shakers in CA., I don't even feel the small ones here even if I am awake. The only reason I did notice it was because I was already awake. With a tornado, I keep my ear tuned to the radio or TV because you never know about those buggers.
I am not a real religious person but even I freely pray for anybody caught up in disasters like these tornados or the people affected by the earthquake last year. Any decent person would say a prayer for people in situations like that. I've also noticed that the prayers flow pretty freely back here during disasters anyway. It's not always macho because a person doesn't respond the way people who never experienced it think they should, depends on your life experience I guess.
I didn't feel a thing here in the South Bay. So I got to sleep in till 6:30!
Let's shake Lindbaugh and see that he is fired for his comments!
Lindbaugh only reworded what she already said publicly!!!!!!!
I wish some idiots would stay on topic.
No, Limbaugh made up words and said that she said them.
"Good Morning!" says earth.
Lets shake Obummer and his unqualified staff and see if he stops his country shakeing changes.
People seem desperate to turn this into a political earthquake.
Seriously, a 4.0? Not worth the time to report it. I'm an hour from the bay and didn't feel even a small shake. No big deal folks!
I can't believe a 4.0 earthquake in California would be considered something worth putting on a national news website. What a joke!
Must be a slow news day. I live in LA county and was wondering why I didn't feel it.
Wonder if this how the People of Japan felt & spoke before last year, nothing new, all normal? Mother nature sending out her warnings, times are changing even the earth. Nothing new, however got hold nature in awe & repect its power of destruction.
DKJ-4, 4.0 earthquakes have been happening here for decades. That level of pressure and release is common, and a sign that pressure is not building up too hard.
The earth being quiet would be a cause for worry out here. I don't know why y'all are acting like this is suddenly something to be concerned about.
That's what that was? I thought some guy on the floor below me had tipped something over.
I'm only 19, and I'm still earthquake resistant, it seems. Wasn't it only a couple magnitudes higher on the east coast when they flipped out? Now that's more like an alarm clock, least to me.
In California the soil is much looser under ground and this allows a quake's froce to move around and spread out as it hits. In the east, the soil doesn't have this same looseness and thus a 4.0 quake would be a big deal since it could not spread out its force.
Or, you know, we live on the pacific ring of fire, the single most active tectonic plate on the planet, and earthquakes like this are an every year occurrence, which they aren't on the east coast.
If it ' shook California awake ' .... how come there have only ben a couple responses at the USGS.gov ????
Didn't shake Ca. Awake..................only the Bay area.
Maybe it's just a precursor to what is coming. Who knows? California is used to it, so they will be ok.
I thought Michael Moore slipped and fell.
Moore actually did fall from his foot high futon bed squashing his cat and causing his home to slide off its foundation.
No. It was Rush.
Both are idiots! They just happen to pander and make their millions off the far right and far left idiots (of which there are many).
Get ready cali.......not much longer
When you compare Ca to Fl, Ca seems much less of a bummer. We don't flood, bugs don't eat us alive, and we're not having a major snake or alligator problem.
I'd rather have the snakes and gators than Pelosi. Now thats scary.
Pelosi is a snake!
LOL!! We've noticed that, Pelosi's skin gave her away. We weren't actually sure she is a snake, but many of us knew she is a dangerous pest.
I lived in Alaska for 6 years. A 4.0 would not even have been enough reason to get out of bed!
We're sitting on top of where two major tectonic plates meet. You have to expect a little shaking now and then. I'd be grateful it was only a 4.0.
I lived in cali for 16 yrs. Hate earthquakes.......you lay there and wait for the next one, the aftershocks, the rumbling.......it sucks......Ive seen the ground crack, cars fall in........no thanks.....nice place to drive thru......well kinda......southern cal is a sewer now.......central rattles hard, northern cal is beautiful, rattles hard. But they have allowed much destruction of trees and not too many paths to get out of way of tidalwaves along the coast.
Justmy, I lived in Calif. for over 30 years and I think you are trying to pull someone's leg with the ground cracked and cars fall in. I have been around some pretty big ones, and never saw that.
Justmy53and me...I have seen small cracks created by earthquakes. Worst thing I've seen is the bridge collapse ON cars up north. Yes, there have been some big quakes, but cars falling in... I think not. I've been her for the last 28 years. Worst one I went through was when I was working in Baldwin Park, and the Whitter Narrows quake hit... THAT one was scary, but even being only about 3 miles from the epicenter we still didn't get building damange, and only lost one picture off our walls---and I believe that was a 7.
I remember back in college I'd taken a California Geography class for some reason or another. The teacher said that the whole "Cracks in the ground opening up and swallowing things," fable got started back in the big San Francisco earthquake in (1906?). Some enterprising news reporter got the tail of a cow from a slaughterhouse, stuck it in a crack in the ground, and took a picture.
I have NO idea if that is true or not. Most likely, it is urban legend. But you know what? Sounds pretty plausible...
Lots of activity below rumbling the earth.........lots of tornados?........Mother Nature is kickin? and rush limpballs is droppin'.........karma's a beech.......better be nice to women boys?
The big one is coming. Just a matter of time.
I was up and almost out the door in Concord. Sorry, didn't feel it. A 4.3 isn't woth the trouble to even stop and out down the coffee cup.
Is San Francisco in northern California?
On the edge of northern
Last time I checked.
4.0 Usually makes the local news.... I didn't feel a thing.
Its gonna take a much larger earthquake than 4.0 to wake california up? That giant sleeping under it has indigestion without relief. Maybe some fracking and drilling will help.
Glad it was a small one, but 'Justmy53andme', fracking and drilling will definately help.
This earthquake is so ironic because just the other day i was reading a bunch of blogs about California and how people would rather deal with an earthquake instead of a tornado. Just goes to show there is no "Safe" place to live there are dangers everywhere!
4.0 is nothing compared to a tornado.
I would MUCH rather deal with a really nasty earthquake every 10 or 20 years than an entire season where it is possible (if not very likely) for a tornado to come along and completely obliterate your house. You're right, raddave. A 4.0 is NOTHING compared to tornadoes, and you can have them! :p
We can build for earthquakes, and there's lots of things that can be done to protect your lives and belongings. The ground shaking has been taken into account. Most of what comes crashing down are old buildings that are out of code, and overpasses. Which really sucks if you happen to live/be driving there...
Earthquakes on the west coast plus possible tsunamis, hurricanes on the east coast , and killer tornados in the middle--- I think I will move to North Dakota , nothing happens there.
Blizzards
Arizona and NM have the most stable land and air. That said in July/August the entire SW gets Monsoon storms. But they aren't anything like what Dwight describes. And in the winter the desert is warm and both States have enough alpine locations that you can play in the snow in the winter and head up to cool down in the summer. Everything but an ocean and San Diego makes for a nice weekend drive.
Don't forget about the new madrid fault zone...nowhere is really safe. It doesn't quit go all the way up to N. Dakota, but I'm sure they have some other treat waiting up there... yeti or something...
Blizzards!
Don't forget that supervolcano under yellowstone. :)
What's funny is I live in NE Ohio and I know exactly what a 4.0 quake feels like because we had a 4.0 on new years eve last year due to fraking.
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