San Francisco earthquakes rattle Bay area residents

[MindMover]

Source: The Washington Post

Two back-to-back earthquakes rattled the San Francisco Bay area awake around 5:30 a.m. Monday morning, the Associated Press reports. There are no reports of serious damage or injury.

According to the AP, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that a magnitude-2.9 quake struck at 5:33 a.m. It was followed eight seconds later by a magnitude-4.0 quake.

While most San Franciscans were startled from sleep when the quake hit, local reporter Kristen Sze was on-air when the KGO TV studio began to shake. Watch as Sze coolly switches from a report on rallies for higher education funding to a report on the quake:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=8569021

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/san-francisco-earthquakes-rattles-bay-area-residents-local-reporter/2012/03/05/gIQAf520sR_blog.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost

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Earthquakes in California...not good....

[AsahinaKimi]

1. I must have slept thought it...

It didn't even wake me up.

[arcane1]

4. I was awake at 5am, asleep again at 5:10, and slept through it once again

I've missed every quake since 2008

[usrname]

13. Same here

Slept through the whole thing.

[sakabatou]

26. Same

[SemperEadem]

2. earthquakes anywhere are not good

We're almost upon the year anniversary of the Japan quake/tsunami (3/11/11)

[evilhime]

3. San Francisco is the last

corner in the ring of fire not to have a major quake . . . Chile, Christ Church NZ, Indonesia, Japan . . . predictions have said they are due Let's hope they are wrong.

[AsahinaKimi]

9. WE had the one in 1989...

That was enough for me, for one lifetime. It was a big one.. right before the World Series between The Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants. Mayor Dianne Feinstein gave everyone three days off to recover.. and stay away from the places that got hit the most.

[truedelphi]

15. As heart breakingly bad as this 1989 quake was, it was a baby

Quake.

Wait till we get a 7.0+ quake as I suspect that the 1906 would have registered, if we'd have had earthquake technologies then.

[AsahinaKimi]

25. Unfortunately that one may come

with a Tsunami... something the city of San Francisco doesn't need.

[cbayer]

5. Link to USGS maps.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/special/California_Nevada.php

[longship]

6. Near daily occurrences in CA

The 4.* is a teeny bit worrisome but 2.*'s happen all the time. Most of the time you don't even feel them.

My bet is that the people in SF are going about their business as normal.

I lived in LA area for over a decade and experienced these all the time. Check out Recent Earthquakes in CA and NV.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. It's the level of recent activity that is worrisome.

There have been a rash of shallow but strong feeling earthquakes the past few months, all of them along or nearby the Hayward fault. I have not felt this much activity since the years proceedinge Loma Prieta. The Hayward appears to be waking up and, when that fault rips, it ain;t gonna be pretty.

[longship]

10. That would be worrisome

The post only cited the two tremblers. Of course, the big one will likely not have any warning. I remember that 7.1 a few years ago. I was in San Diego area and it went on and on and on. Scared the bejesus out of everybody. Fortunately it was centered out in the desert.

[Paka]

22. I was in Santa Monica for that one.

The year was 1994 and it did indeed go on forever. Over one full minute which is forever in a 7+ earthquake. The Santa Monica quake got triggered by the Sepulveda one and so the second half was like a double quake. I lived in California for many years and that was the worst one I experienced.

[Retrograde]

12. It's the Hayward fault that's the worrisome part

There was a flurry of activity on the Hayward back in October, and now this. You're right, it reminds me of what happened before Loma Prieta (aka The Big Enough One).

For those of you not in the Bay Area, the Hayward fault runs through the heavily populated east side of the bay, including Oakland and Berkeley. It's been more or less quiet since the mid-1860s, but it's been creeping along regularly.

[truedelphi]

17. Thanks for posting.

1.5 to 2.3 rated earthquakes are almost a continuous activity for the West Coast.
It is quakes over the 5.0 mark that are a problem.

[Sirveri]

27. We just had two a month ago one day apart, 3.9, in Vallejo.

Which is good since it will blow a lot of the pressure off the fault.

[Downtown Hound]

7. Bah! As someone who has lived in the Bay Area for more than 20 years

Wake me up when they reach 6.0 or bigger. Anything less than that, it's just like going to Disneyland. You rumble around a little, and then it's done.

Yeah, we'll probably have that "Big One" someday. But bear in mind they've been saying that since I first moved here at age 10, and with the exception of the Loma Prieta quake in '89, (which, they say, wasn't The Big One they've been waiting for but something else) it hasn't happened yet.

I'll take a major earthquake every few decades or so against tornados every year any day of the week.

[CrawlingChaos]

11. The scary part about this is...

They were on the Hayward Fault, and there sure have been a lot of little earthquakes on the Hayward Fault lately. I don't know how scientific this observation is, but I vividly remember in the years before Loma Prieta (which hit my family hard), the little quakes on that section of the San Andreas seemed to get more frequent, and then the little quakes became moderate quakes (5's and 6's), and then WHAM. So I get nervous when a fault seems to be experiencing increased activity; it feels like it's "waking up".

As any Bay Area resident will tell you (since they drill it into us all the time) the Hayward Fault is the most terrifying of faults since it runs directly under so many hospitals, schools, homes, etc. It goes right through the middle of the Berkeley campus. I can't believe all this building of critical structures was allowed to take place right smack on top of the fault itself, but it was. And the other part of this troubling equation is that the Hayward Fault, which is capable of making a very large 7+ quake, is apparently very overdue for a major event.

I've lived here all my life, and it's a constant source of fear and dread. It's not like a Disneyland ride, like the poster above me said. You greatly fear for the safety of your loved ones, and vulnerable people who will need help that isn't coming anytime soon. The chaos after a major earthquake is something you don't forget either.

[truedelphi]

18. I no longer live in the Bay Area, and one reason I don't plan

On ever living there again is due to the quake fears.

And there's no way to tell. In terms of a geological record, which can only point to a frequency curve, with a five year to five hundred year error consideration, it's a whole lot of uncertainty.

So now I live near a dormant volcano!

Anyway, I certainly agree that the quake situation is not a Disneyland experience.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

21. Yup, that is my memory -

The years leading up to Loma Prieta -- I remember it exactly as you described.

I work in a brick building on the bay side of San Francisco, and those "little" quakes in October had the place feeling like it was hit by a 5., not the 3.s they were. I cringe thinking of riding out a 5 or 6 on the Hayward here. For that matter, this morning's quake also felt larger than what it was, and I live in a wood frame on bedrock and am bolted.

Still, I'll take it over Tornado Alley any day.

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. Good video. That was a great transition.

[demosincebirth]

16. Why do all Bay Area earthquakes, just, always happen in San Francisco even though some are

50-60 miles away?

[Mz Pip]

23. 'Cause no one's heard

of El Cerrito.

[CreekDog]

28. um...what about?

[RandySF]

19. It woke us up.

I asked my wife if we had an earthquake. She said "No, I turned over."

[MindMover]

20. LOL....

[Ruby the Liberal]

24. And what was her response when you showed her this post?

[Islandlife]

29. Scary because it is inevitable and too big for FEMA

If I lived there I'd consider moving sooner than later. It would be foolish to think that some private or public agency could protect you. Your survival is your responsibility.