San Francisco residents have been shaken awake by a 4.6 magnitude earthquake which rocked the Bay Area in the early hours of Monday morning.
The natural disaster struck at 2.56am for around four minutes at a depth of 7.8 kilometers (4.8 miles) close to the UC Berkeley campus.
Alicia Yandell Hamilton, who lives within the quake zone, told the Daily Mail the earthquake was so strong it woke her kids up.
‘I live about 11 miles from the epicenter and it was a huge jolt,’ she said. ‘It was the first time an earthquake has woken my children up.’
Another longtime resident, who did not want to be named, said she felt the quake from Oakland and the shudders scared her pet.
‘I felt the tremors. They were short and brief,’ she told the Daily Mail, adding that she has experienced several earthquakes in the area before.
A third Bay Area local said their apartment shook from the force of the quake.
‘I was sitting on my recliner and the tower I live in was undulating a good while,’ they wrote on X. ‘I’m on the second floor, those on the twelfth most likely swayed more.’
The epicenter appeared to be near the UC Berkeley campus
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Several others said the movement also woke them up, while one San Francisco homeowner said it was ‘the scariest’ earthquake she had ever experienced.
Passengers at San Francisco International Airport were also moved by the earthquake, as an early warning app sounded on phones in the area.
Residents in Walnut Creek, Martinez, Alameda and across the Bay in San Francisco were also affected.
San Francisco Fire Department said there were no reports of damage or injuries in the city.
The San Francisco Chronicle said that the quake had ‘toppled toothbrushes and scared pets.’
They advised people to be wary of aftershocks and check for hazards, like gas leaks.
A green alert was issued for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. A tsunami was not expected.
Worryingly, Geological Survey experts say that after a small earthquake, there is a five percent chance of a larger one striking within three days.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said: ‘There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.’
The quake occurred along the Hayward fault line, ABC7 news reported, just days after a minor 3.5 magnitude tremor rocked the Bay Area last Monday.
Last week’s tremor occurred at 3pm about five miles east of Clayton, with a depth of four miles, according to the USGS.
Residents reported feeling light shaking across the region.
Three days later, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake off Russia’s east coast set off tsunami alerts in Alaska and Hawaii.
Thursday’s quake, near the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky region, saw more than a dozen aftershocks, ranging from 4.8 to 5.6 magnitude.
People on social media said they felt their apartments shake from the force of the quake
Residents near the epicenter were warned of potential coastal flooding or damage in low-lying areas.
Residents of San Francisco Bay have long been braced for a devastating earthquake they’ve nicknamed ‘the big one.’
The US Geological Survey estimates there is a 72 percent chance of a quake measuring 6.7 or above on the Richter scale striking the Bay Area by 2043.
In October 1989, the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake struck the Bay, killing 63 and causing $6 billion in damage (equivalent to $16 billion in 2025).
San Francisco was also struck by a notorious 7.9 earthquake in 1906 that killed up to 3,000 people and destroyed 80 percent of the city.
Many buildings in the Bay Area have been built to withstand strong earthquakes, but experts warn ‘the big one’ will still devastate the region when it occurs.
This news is breaking: more to follow
