No damage reported as 4.4 Berkeley quake rocks Bay Area
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Photo: USGS Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Image 1 of 17 A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. Photo: USGS Image 2 of 17 A "shake map" from USGS shows how far away the 4.4 magnitude Berkeley quake was felt, with moderate shaking being felt indicated in green, and light purple indicating perception of the quake, but with far less intensity. (USGS) less A "shake map" from USGS shows how far away the 4.4 magnitude Berkeley quake was felt, with moderate shaking being felt indicated in green, and light purple indicating perception of the quake, but with far less ... more Photo: USGS Image 3 of 17 A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. Photo: USGS Image 4 of 17 A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. Photo: USGS Image 5 of 17 Image 6 of 17 Earthquake magnitudes measure the energy released by a tremor, but are not meant to calculate how intense the shaking is for those near the epicenter. To measure how forceful a quake felt to someone or something near the epicenter, geologists use something called the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale. The following slides explain what it means when you see a roman numeral representing intensity on USGS readings and color-coded intensity maps. Information taken from a USGS magnitude vs. intensity comparison. less Earthquake magnitudes measure the energy released by a tremor, but are not meant to calculate how intense the shaking is for those near the epicenter. To measure how forceful a quake felt to someone or ... more Photo: Vincent Maggiora/The Chronicle Image 7 of 17 Below a 3.0 magnitude: Earthquakes at this level are generally deemed level I in intensity . These are "Not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions," according to the USGS. Below a 3.0 magnitude: Earthquakes at this level are generally deemed level I in intensity . These are "Not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions," according to the USGS. Photo: USGS Image 8 of 17 Magnitude 3.0 to 3.9 - Earthquakes at this level are typically level II, which. according to the USGS are "only felt by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings," or level III, which carry "vibrations similar to the passing of a truck."
less Magnitude 3.0 to 3.9 - Earthquakes at this level are typically level II, which. according to the USGS are "only felt by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings," or level III, which ... more Image 9 of 17 Magnitude 4 to 4.9 - quakes at this intensity are often level IV, which are widely felt but rarely cause serious damage or even level V, which are felt by nearly everyone and have the power to wake people up. Magnitude 4 to 4.9 - quakes at this intensity are often level IV, which are widely felt but rarely cause serious damage or even level V, which are felt by nearly everyone and have the power to wake people up. Image 10 of 17 Image 11 of 17 Magnitude 5 to 5.9 - The USGS says level VI intensity is where people start getting scared. By level VII we start seeing "considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures." Magnitude 5 to 5.9 - The USGS says level VI intensity is where people start getting scared. By level VII we start seeing "considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures." Photo: Robert Gauthier/LA Times Image 12 of 17 Buy photo Magnitude 6.0 to 6.9 - As the 2014 Napa quake proved, A level VIII quake can take down "chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments" and walls.
By level IX many structures are knocked off of the foundation, and even well designed buildings can be thrown out of plumb. The 1989 Loma Prieta quake fell into this category. less Magnitude 6.0 to 6.9 - As the 2014 Napa quake proved, A level VIII quake can take down "chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments" and walls.
By level IX many structures are knocked off of the foundation, and ... more Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Buy this photo Image 13 of 17 level VIII up. The three highest levels X - where masonry homes are largely destroyed, level XI - where bridges may come down, and level XII where "damage is total" are the most intense. San Francisco's 1906 earthquake (damage pictured above) was considered a level XI quake. Quakes above magnitude 7.0 can range fromup. The three highest- where masonry homes are largely destroyed,- where bridges may come down, andwhere "damage is total" are the most intense. San Francisco's 1906 earthquake (damage pictured above) was considered a level XI quake. less level VIII up. The three highest levels X - where masonry homes are largely destroyed, level XI - where bridges may come down, and level XII where "damage is total" are Quakes above magnitude 7.0 can range fromup. The three highest- where masonry homes are largely destroyed,- where bridges may come down, andwhere "damage is total" are ... more Photo: AP Image 14 of 17 USGS earthquake maps show the location of the 4.4 magnitude quake that struck Berkeley at 2:39 a.m. on January 4th, 2018 (USGS) USGS earthquake maps show the location of the 4.4 magnitude quake that struck Berkeley at 2:39 a.m. on January 4th, 2018 (USGS) Photo: USGS Image 15 of 17 Image 16 of 17 A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. The quake was felt from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck at 2:39 am in Berkeley on Thursday, January 4, 2018. The quake was felt from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz. Photo: USGS Image 17 of 17 No damage reported as 4.4 Berkeley quake rocks Bay Area 1 / 17 Back to Gallery
The 4.4-magnitude earthquake that struck near Berkeley early Thursday damaged mainly the sleep of hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents who were shaken awake, but it also rattled the serenity of those who know the likelihood of a far more serious quake looms.
Seismic experts said aftershocks are likely in the coming days, though their severity is unpredictable. The quake could be a precursor to a larger one, they said, but the chance of that occurring is just 5 percent.
Still, the quake was a mild jolt of a reminder that there’s a one-in-three chance that a 6.7 or greater earthquake will hit the Bay Area in the next 30 years, according to the USGS. The Hayward Fault is overdue for a large quake, seismologists say.
Thursday’s quake, which took place at 2:39 a.m., was centered two miles east-southeast of Berkeley at a depth of eight miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It struck on the Hayward Fault, near the Claremont Hotel.
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Photo: @gradybrannan Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Image 1 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @gradybrannan Image 2 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @lombardihimself/Twitter Image 3 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @hapfrap/Twitter Image 4 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @mat/Twitter Image 5 of 14 Image 6 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @ieuanofficial/Twitter Image 7 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @fart/Twitter Image 8 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @karaswisher/Twitter Image 9 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @Suavellave/Twitter Image 10 of 14 Image 11 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @JoeFortenbaugh /Twitter Image 12 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @JesseArreguin/Twitter Image 13 of 14 Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Bay Area locals and others react to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in the night. Photo: @romanmars/Twitter Image 14 of 14 Bay Area Twitter reacts to a 4.4 magnitude earthquake 1 / 14 Back to Gallery
“The shaking was widespread, that’s not unexpected for an earthquake of this magnitude,” Keith Knudsen, a USGS geologist, said during a morning press briefing at the agency’s science center in Menlo Park.
People were awakened from the North Bay to San Jose, and some as far away as Sacramento and Monterey reported feeling the shaking, but there were no reports of serious injuries or damage worse than items knocked off shelves.
“Nothing that we’ve heard of,” a Berkeley police dispatcher said a half hour after the quake. “We felt it, but we’re not getting a lot of calls. People are probably asleep.”
Not everyone slept through it, however. According to the USGS, an estimated 9.8 million people felt the earthquake.
The last big earthquake in the Bay Area struck in Napa on Aug. 24, 2014, with a magnitude of 6.0. It killed one person, injured at least 200 and caused more than $500 million in damage.
“We live in earthquake country,” Knudsen said, “we should all expect earthquakes.”
Michael Cabanatuan, Nanette Asimov and Sarah Ravani are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Alix Martichoux is an SFGate producer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com, nasimov@sfchronicle.com, sravani@sfchronicle.com
The earthquake that rattled the Bay Area on Thursday is another reminder of the power and danger of the Hayward Fault, which runs below the populous East Bay.
The Hayward fault, along with the San Andreas fault on the San Francisco peninsula, have long posed a twin seismic peril to the region. The San Andreas produced the devastating 1989 Loma Prieta quake and 1906 San Francisco quake.
The Hayward fault could produce a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake and is directly underneath heavily populated areas.
Damage form 1868 Hayward Fault quake USGS
A sleeping giant
The Hayward fault courses underneath Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward and Fremont and produces a large earthquake, on average, every 160 years, with a margin of error of about 80 years. It has been 150 years since the Hayward fault last ruptured, unleashing a huge earthquake.
The Hayward fault is considered one of the nation’s most dangerous faults because it is directly under the urban centers of the East Bay, including Memorial Stadium at UC Berkeley and a now-shuttered building that formerly housed Hayward City Hall, which is slowly being torn up by fault movement.
A U.S. Geological Survey scenario for a 7.0 earthquake on the Hayward fault envisions it rupturing for 52 miles from San Pablo Bay to Fremont. It would cause one side of the fault to move four feet from the other. Many buildings, including apartments, still sit directly on top of the fault line, and were built before a state law passed in 1972 prohibiting new construction or substantial renovation on top of earthquake faults.
On its website, the USGS calls the Hayward fault the region’s “tectonic time bomb,” which could “cause hundreds of deaths, leave thousands homeless and devastate the region’s economy.”
In 2016, David Schwartz, a USGS geologist, said in an interview that above the Hayward fault are “2 million people who directly live on top of it. It sits geographically in the center of the Bay Area. There’s a tremendous amount of infrastructure built up on it — water systems, gas, electrical, BART crosses it — so a large event on that fault is like hitting the bull’s eye on a target.”
Here is a simulation of the power of a 7.0 quake on the fault. And a shake map.
This curb was once flush but became offset because the Hayward fault is pulling the curb apart. Rong-Gong Lin II / Los Angeles Times
A rupture in 1868
The Hayward fault’s most memorable earthquake in recorded history was in 1868, and is estimated to have been a magnitude 6.8 earthquake — rupturing 20 miles of the fault’s length between San Leandro to what is now the Warm Springs neighborhood of Fremont, according to the USGS.
It killed about 30 people and caused immense property damage, including the collapse of the Alameda County Courthouse’s second floor and heavy damage at the historic Mission San Jose adobe church in southern Fremont.
Many faults cut across California’s coastal region. What might an earthquake look like along the Hayward Fault? This simulation depicts one scenario. For more on earthquakes—why ...
‘The fault will have its revenge’
Until recently, one of the places to see the power of the Hayward fault was at the corner of Rose and Prospect streets in Hayward.
Pulled apart so that it no longer aligned, the humble curb wasn’t much to look at. But for earthquake scientists, it was a kind of Holy Grail, perfectly illustrating the seismic forces at work underneath this Bay Area neighborhood.
Since at least the 1970s, scientists have painstakingly photographed the curb as the Hayward fault pushed it farther and farther out of alignment. It was a sharp reminder that someday, a magnitude 7 earthquake would strike directly beneath one of the most heavily populated areas in Northern California.
Then, in 2016, a city crew decided to fix the faulty curb, destroying the marker of seismic power.
“They really took it out. Wow,” Schwartz told The Times. “It really was an iconic location on the Hayward fault.”
But he added a warning: “The fault will have its revenge.”
Click here if you are have a problem viewing video on a mobile device
This morning’s earthquake on the Hayward Fault was just a magnitude 4.4 shaker. What if it had been 5.5, or 6?
Was your earthquake kit nearby? Have you taken steps to prepare your home and family? What’s your disaster plan for the dog and cat?
Here are some handy links to help you get ready for a quake that does more than wake you up at 2:39 a.m. on a damp Thursday.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A 4.4 magnitude earthquake centered along a seismically active five-mile stretch of Hayward fault near the University of California, Berkeley campus and historic Claremont Hotel jolted the Bay Area awake early Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake struck at 2:39 a.m. and was felt throughout the East Bay, North Bay and San Francisco. While many were jolted out of their beds, there was no preliminary reports of major damage or injuries.
The USGS initially registered the temblor as a 4.7 magnitude quake, downgrading it quickly to a 4.5 magnitude and later to a 4.4.
USGS Geologist David Schwartz said the quake struck in an area where there has been a number of jolts over the last decade.
“It is centered on about a five-mile-long section of the Hayward Fault that in the past 10 years has produced 30 earthquakes of magnitude between 3-4,” he told KPIX 5. “So it is a hot spot along the fault and this morning’s earthquake was the largest of that group.”
Schwartz said the real question in the hours after the quake was “is this a foreshock of something larger? That’s the concern.”
USGS Deputy Director Keith Knudsen told reporters at an early morning news conference that there was a slight chance that the quake was a warning of a much larger shaker.
“Looking historically at all the earthquakes that have happened in California, about five percent of the time earthquakes are followed by larger earthquakes,” he said. “So there is a low probability but there is some probability.”
Knudsen said it wouldn’t be a big surprise if a major earthquake struck on the Hayward fault. “The last big earthquake occurred in 1868 so we are about at the 150-year anniversary,” said Knudsen. “We know from geologic excavations on this fault that big quakes happen every 150 years.”
Knudsen said the quake was eight miles deep into the earth, explaining why the temblor was so widely felt.
“It was relatively deep for an earthquake on the Hayward fault,” he said. “Shallower earthquakes are felt over smaller areas, deeper earthquakes the earthquake energy radiates to a much broader area.”
The quake’s epicenter was on Claremont Ave., right across the street from the historic Claremont Hotel and also about a mile away from Cal’s Memorial Stadium.
It knocked items off the 24-hour Safeway’s shelves in San Leandro according to a witness.
Transit agencies reported there were delays during the early morning commute while they checked for any damage.
“Anticipate minor delays at the start of light rail service as VTA conducts routine system checks as part of its standard safety precautions following an earthquake recorded earlier this morning,” San Jose transit officials said.
Expect major delays with our first trains this morning. Trains will be performing track inspections due to earlier seismic activity. — SFBARTalert (@SFBARTalert) January 4, 2018
Among those awaken by the quake was Bay Area 1980’s R&B star M.C. Hammer.
4.5 … that’s like someone just rocking you back to sleep 💤 Go back to bed 🛏 … no harm no foul… #SanJoseEarthQuake https://t.co/StZ89RNwuo — MC HAMMER (@MCHammer) January 4, 2018
Long-time San Franciscan Nancy Foley emailed KPIX that the quake felt much larger than the initial 4.5 estimate.
“HOLY COW! I’m in the Richmond District-SF, and it felt like a 5.5!!!,” she wrote.”I’m also a native and lived through a large one in the late 50’s as a kid, and the Loma Prieta in ‘89, while I was in an elevator…This one built to a cracking crescendo, similar to the last part of the ‘89. I thought my wall of bookcases would fall down.”
“I am totally shocked it was centered in Berkeley on the Hayward Fault and only a 4.5.”
In Daly City, the quake startled Linda Solorzano.
“Here in Daly City all rattled shook and woke me bolted up putting shoes on to run out / away if did not stop,” she posted on the KPIX Facebook page. “Can’t sleep.. waiting for aftershock.”
Gina Solis posted on the KPIX 5 that it rocked her home in San Rafael.
“I felt it in San Rafael,” she posted. “It shook our house and shook the bed big time!!!”
Pamela Jones posted: “Felt stronger than 4.5, in Concord.”
In the South Bay, Chris Defayette said it was “a quick jolt.”
“Yes in Campbell was a quick jolt and rocking,” DeFayette posted.
Like hundreds of others, both Shannon Gonsalves in Alameda and Acacia Walls in Novato said the shaking was so strong it quickly awoke them from a sound sleep.
“Woke us up in Alameda,” posted Gonsalves while Walls posted: “In Novato and jolted me awake while my bed was rocking.”
Donnie Dorschler was awake in Mill Valley when the quake hit and emailed: “It was a loud hit and then a slow rumbling.”
Up in Sebastopol, Jenner Ninemires said the quake took his farm house for a gentle ride.
“I felt the earthquake up here in Sebastopol,” he email to KPIX 5. “I live in an old 100-year-old farmhouse built on pier blocks and she swayed gently back and forth….wheeeee.”
In the Santa Cruz Mountains, Kim Vestal posted: “Heart still pounding.”
Joy Joyner was sure the quake’s epicenter was near her Morgan Hill home.
“Big shake woke us up, loud rumble, rattled everything,” she posted. “Thought for sure it was centered down here.”
