Mother nature came trick ‘o treating in the San Francisco Bay area this evening. We just had a magnitude 5.6 earthquake, which is considered moderate. It was centered about 9 miles northeast of San Jose, and we felt it here in San Mateo county. Normally, we don’t feel earthquakes in the house, but this one seemed to last for several seconds. Happily, everything seems fine and there are no early reports of fires, injuries or damage.
The quake is posted on the USGS site, listed as ID 40204628. If you’re in the Bay area, and you felt it, you can report your experience to help build the community intensity map. You’ll find the links right on the USGS site. 324 reports are already filed — less than 30 minutes after it happened. You can do this whether you are visiting or a resident.
Freaky.
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October 30th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
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October 30th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I stay in belmont in bay area. I experiened my apt to be shaking and confirmed it to be earthquake and came out of it immediately. But it was stopped after few seconds, and everyting seemed normal. I is high that we can feel it.
October 30th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Location: Los Altos Hills, along Page Mill Rd, 6 miles south of Page Mill/280 intersection, elevation 2000′
Felt week mild swaying of house, lasting about 10 seconds. Zero damage.
October 31st, 2007 at 11:47 am
Living a walking distance from Alum Rock Park might be sometimes freaky.It was a very sudden rumbling, all windows and glasses rattling then the vases started to fall and roll.Thouse 5 sec felt much longer.
In every room of our house we found displaced items. Fallen vases in kitchen and living room,jars of spices falling out of cupboard, fallen bottles with cosmetic in bathrooms, toys and sculptures in bedrooms, splashed water form swimming pool etc.
October 31st, 2007 at 4:20 pm
KCBS740 is reporting today that the quake was near the intersection of the Hayward and Calaveras faults. So, this wasn’t even on the Hayward, or close to the magnitude due - well, anytime now. The 150-year quiet period is up.
I imagine last night was a far different experience for you, Martina, near Alum Rock. Like Dr. Wilcke and Shankar, I’m a short walk from the San Andreas. The upside is that the ground is fairly “quiet” here, most of the time.
I’m very surprised that basic cell and landline phone services were unavailable in some areas last night. From what I heard, there were no downed lines, no collasped cell towers. The outages were attributed to high levels of demand, and were treated as “to be expected”. That’s can’t be a good thing.