San Francisco Earthquake

[NJCher]

Source: CNN

Said a 4. something.



Cher

No link yet.

[Greeby]

1. A major earthquake would be bad enough

But while this moran is President and FEMA is this useless? Ho boy

[still_one]

2. epicenter is in Oakland, preliminary 4.2 magnitude /nt

[caligirl]

32. was it under John Yoo's house?

[xchrom]

3. it was OAKLAND! -- sigh we are always the ugly stepsister.

we can't even have our own earthquake.

[Tom Joad]

5. there, there.

[xchrom]

7. thank you -- it's just so traumatic -- first you have the earthquake --

then san francisco gets the credit.

i'm gonna take a valium.

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Good morning, xchrom.

You are so right -- Oaktown gets no respect.

It was a short little rattle over on this side of the hills.

[xchrom]

28. morning!!!

i'm not usually this excited in the morning.

[lynnertic]

31. You think Oakland is bad, try having a to-do in Emeryville.

And it's only at the other side of the bridge.

On edit: so did you feel it?

[xchrom]

43. oh. my. god. did i feel it!

we are talking about the earthquake right?

[Jack Rabbit]

48. Or did Tom Joad mean . ..

There's no there there.

(Remark attributed to Oakland native Gertrude Stein.)

[entanglement]

58. LOL

:spray:

[CanisCrocinus]

60. There, there

Okay, this reply has had me smiling ever since I read it. Thanks, Gertrude!

[Terran]

22. Oakland is beautiful

I lived there before I lived in SF--it's much more livable in many ways than San Francisco.

[comtec]

26. True...

But since Jerry Brown was mayor, (is he still in?) Things in Oakland REALLY picked up on every positive marker. He lowered crime, increased visibility of Oakland, and generally improved how Oaklanders view their own city.

[pinniped]

50. Jerry Brown is the new CA Attorney General.

.

[Raine]

44. Same here

I'm in a suburb of Los Angeles County but we are ignored about everything and anything that does happen here is listed under it being in Los Angeles. x( Here nothing rates unless it's in the TMZ (30 mile zone). :-(

[xchrom]

46. you have my sympathy! n/t

[EFerrari]

53. Not ugly stepsister -- more like our evil twin!

Lol

:hi:

[Tom Joad]

4. it was in the east bay of san francisco bay... and it was loud and a jolt

but i don't expect much real damage to be reported.

I expected it to be recorded higher.
go here to read more www.sfgate.com

[Sequoia]

34. I have this awful feeling.

We've had numerous tremors lately all around the Bay and North Bay area which makes me think.....when I lived in Santa Moncia we had quite a few shakers before and after Christmas and then the Northridge Quake hit on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Just be prepared, you never know.

[Ian David]

6. From the USGS

Magnitude 4.2 - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
2007 July 20 11:42:22 UTC

Earthquake Details

Magnitude 4.2

# Date-Time Friday, July 20, 2007 at 11:42:22 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time

# Friday, July 20, 2007 at 4:42:22 AM = local time at epicenter

Location 37.807°N, 122.188°W

Depth 5.8 km (3.6 miles)

Region SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA

# Distances 4 km (2 miles) ENE (69°) from Oakland, CA

# 4 km (3 miles) ESE (113°) from Piedmont, CA

# 7 km (4 miles) SW (234°) from Moraga, CA

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.1 km (0.1 miles); depth +/- 0.3 km (0.2 miles)

Parameters Nst=226, Nph=226, Dmin=3 km, Rmss=0.12 sec, Gp= 32°,

M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=3

Source

* California Integrated Seismic Net
* USGS/ Caltech/ CGS/ UCB/ UCSD/ UNR

Event ID nc40199209

More:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/nc40199209.php



http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/San_Francisco.htm

[xchrom]

9. epicenter musta been right up the road from me. n/t

[SoCalDem]

59. YIKES!! it may have been in my son's backyard

quake coordinates

37.974562N ,122.058593W

my son's coordinates

37.807°N, 122.188°W

[NJCher]

8. one-minute earthquakes

Tapered off at 50 seconds. 4.2

Interviewing police captain: so far no damage reports. A




Cher

[Ian David]

10. Bay Area Rocked by 4.2 Magnitude Earthquake

Bay Area Rocked by 4.2 Magnitude Earthquake
Updated Friday, July 20, 2007 at 5:03 a.m.
BY Bryan Thomas
Daily Cal Staff Writer
Thursday, July 19, 2007

Berkeley was rocked early this morning by a magnitude 4.2 earthquake centered about 6 miles from the city.

According to a preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake registered 4.2 on the Richter Scale and occurred at 4:42 a.m. The quake was centered 2 miles east-northeast of Oakland's city-center.

The Berkeley Police Department reported at 4:57 a.m. that as of that time no damage or injuries had been reported.

The last time an earthquake of similar size hit the Bay Area was March 1, when a 4.2 magnitude quake originated in Walnut Creek.

http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=25459

[NJCher]

11. Finally: a headline on CNN's Web site

There it is, in red, across the top.

wwww.cnn.com

Contrast this to DU, where a poster who experienced the earthquake posted at :42. ("Big Ass Earthquake" thread) About 40" later, CNN can finally get a headline up on their Website. Lame. Very lame.

You get the news first at DU.



Cher

[1932]

14. Not defending CNN, but is this really news?

Here's a map of all the earthquakes in the last week: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

SF's earthquake is included.

[DRoseDARs]

18. Not to anyone who has lived in earthquake country. This is fodder for the people who haven't...

I imagine it's pretty scary to someone who has never had the *ahem* "pleasure" of riding an earthquake before but seriously, a 4.2? *yawn* I'm going back to bed...

[MuseRider]

23. LOL

I was in a teeny, tiny one in Honduras. It was loud like a jet coming in and going out and the ground rose up enough for us to feel it, like a wave and then it was over. It was enough for this central plains gal to know that she never wants to experience that again. I'll take the tornadoes any day over that creepy feeling.

You are right about it being fodder. I read every single report about your earthquakes and feel queasy every time I do. :hi:

[TechBear_Seattle]

21. Magnitude 4 earthquakes are not that small

When I was at Humboldt State University (on the north California coast), the weekend edition of the Eureka newspaper had a "regional earthquakes this last week." Magnitude 1 and 2 quakes were common, with about 10 or 12 listed. Magnitude 3 quakes were rarer, perhaps one or two a month. Those are just big enough to be physically felt. A magnitude 4 quake will definitely rattle the windows and, in a major urban area with several known major fault lines, probably cause cause a lot of worry.

I think it is newsworthy.

Wikipedia article on the Richter magnitude scale.

[rosesaylavee]

12. I have been in a 4 and a 5 before

4's are hard to discern if you are moving they are that subtle. 5's move you about a bit but not violently.

[laruemtt]

13. jeezus - my nephew-godson is on his way out there right now

moving from gainesville, florida, to sf. i think i'm going to throw up now...

[DRoseDARs]

17. You're more likely to be eaten by a gator than your nephew is to be killed by a quake.

So relax ... and lock you doors.

[caligirl]

33. He'll be fine, its either we rock and roll, or learn to tread water indefintely.

No hurricanes, just an occasional roller coaster ride.

[rcdean]

15. 10/17/89 - Magnitute 7.1 - I was there!

Hell of a lot bigger quake than this one.

We were forced out of our rooms at the Hyatt Embarcadero and spent the night on the ballroom floor. All of us. Including the Chairman of Transamerica and his wife.

Most amazing part was going out for supplies after dark. Walking by a bar or restaurant, you could hear lots of people but see nothing. Finally found a little Chinese deli that still had a flashlight, batteries, some snack items, and some fairly decent wine. Our little cluster of compatriots back in the ballroom were very pleased.

The hotel fed everyone on the appetizers they had prepared for that night's banquets. But it was mostly sushi, and I'm not a fan.

No electric. No plumbing. No phones.

First thing in the morning, though, the Chronicle (SFGate) hit the street. They put out an emergency edition somehow from some nearby town.

[DRoseDARs]

19. We felt it here in Reno, Nevada, 187 miles away. n/t

[comtec]

20. 4.2 Pffffttt I've slept through bigger

Sorry, but as a life long bay area resident (not including the time I'm currently in Holland) This is not really news for those of use who have lived through worse. a 4. is just strong enough to feel. a 3 only affects people not used to earth quakes. Nearly all buildings are set to withstand at least a 6.5 or meaner.

Don't bother me unless it's a REAL quake ;)

[SayWhatYo]

29. I was there then... Hmm, I think I was about 7 years old.

[kineneb]

37. I was driving home during Loma Prieta (7.1)

heard KQED go off line and switched to the AM stations which were still on the air. The East Bay didn't have too much damage, and our power didn't go off. Most of the problems were either on the actual fault line, or in areas built on fill dirt. (Key to riding out an earthquake- build above bedrock- less ground movement)

Hubby had just driven through the Cypress Structure... had he been 5 minutes later in the traffic, he would have been smashed flat when the road collaped.

Chill out folks, a 4.something is not a bad quake in CA, just a little more exciting than the usual small ones. Things don't really get interesting until it hits about 5.8.

[pink-o]

49. So were you visiting or at a Convention?

...I had just started working for USAirways at San Francisco International, and the day of the Loma Prieta Earthquake (Oct of 89) I was supposed to be driving jet bridges up to arriving airplanes! I got sent home early because it was decided I knew what I was doing, so my friends and I were all home with our boyfriends at the time (a total coincidence--rarely did everyone congregate, due to our busy schedules) and man! 5pm or so that little house just started rockin on it's foundations! Weirdly, we never lost electricity or phone lines so we were able to ascertain everyone we loved was all right.

Remember the Bay Bridge World Series was going on at that time??? We were watching the game, and that Earthquake just HAD to happen in the middle of it!

And Oaktown, don't despair! Remember, the A's won that series (an ultimate anti-climax after the 7.0 quake) and beat down the lame-ass Giants with no problem. A's rock, Bay-bee!

[rcdean]

52. Convention. We were actually at the Cliff House arcade when it hit.

For a second we thought the ledge was collapsing.

We made it back to our cars and--not knowing how severe it was--joked about how our friends watching the World Series back home would worry about us. That's when we first noticed all the traffic lights were out.

One thing I was surprised by was how well the people of San Fran handled the thing. We drove around the next day with no traffic lights, but traffic was orderly. People intelligently and courteously queued up and let others go in their turn. I was very impressed. Probably wouldn't have been that way in Philly. :-)

[Haole Girl]

24. Is is true that smaller quakes relieve the pressure, so-to-speak?

I think I read that somewhere, but I didn't know if it's just a theory or really true.

And, there are so many intelligent people around here, I just thought I'd throw that out there.

Thanks! :hi:

[architect359]

25. True but not enough by far

There was talk about that when we had that cluster of 3 or 4 magnitude 3.something earthquakes in Berkeley. One of the USGS reps basically said that we needed to have thousands of similar magnitude quakes to have any effect on the current pressures in our Bay Area region.

Sigh...

Oh, edit to add: I actually slept through this one (I'm across the bay in SF).

[Haole Girl]

27. Thanks!

Too bad it's not enough to help.

[Xithras]

61. Yes and no. Just as likely to trigger a bigger one as prevent one.

The problem is that the stress doesn't just go away, but gets shifted elsewhere. A small quake in a stressed area may relieve the stress in that area, but if it shifts up the fault line to another area that is also overstressed, it can increase the likelihood of THAT spot having a major slip. These small quakes tend to adjust stress up the fault inches, not miles, so the overall relief is negligible.

The other problem in the Bay Area is that it's crossed by many faults, not just one. A slip in one area slightly torques the ground between the slipping fault and its surrounding faults. This one slipped in Oakland on the Hayward fault, and even if it reduced the overall stress on the Hayward slip zone it may have increased stress on the San Andreas, Rodgers Creek, or Calaveras faults.

The only thing a minor quake does is reduce the odds of another quake in that exact spot. Because the energy of the quake is transmitted and not destroyed, the overall slip potential in the region generally remains unchanged. As an illustration, it is believed by many scientists today that the excessive stress on the Hayward and Rodgers Creek faults today can be traced back to the 1906 San Andreas quake. The 1906 quake relieved a tremendous amount of stress on the San Andreas in that area, but it torqued the region as it slipped and transmitted a lot of its stress eastward. The 1906 shaker reduced the odds of another huge quake on that fault for a few centuries, but it increased the odds of a slip on one of the eastern faults. When taken as a regional whole, the 1906 quake did little to reduce the major quake danger in the Bay Area. These little 4 pointers are the same story, on a smaller scale.

[caligirl]

30. this is a funny comment , I think, someone wrote at the sfgate article comments page

I was having a dream that the Bay Area was devastated by an earthquake - thousands of heavily armed Blackwater mercenaries and US Marines were sent by the Bush admin after the president declared martial law in all of the USA due to the quake..large, dark, loud military helicopters were passing in the night, their searchlights illuminating scenes of terrible chaos...occasionally, heavy machine gun fire could be heard and the flash of a rocket leaving the choppers, raining more death and destruction below...

[CountAllVotes]

35. it was the Hayward fault

I know all about this fault. It has been lying silent for many years now. The last time it went off big time was in the late 1950s. I remember the stories about it as my uncle lived in the east bay. He said it was a heavy jolting motion and that the lawn looked like it had waves in it. It was less than a 6.0 I remember hearing but this particular fault is a dangerous one and it is feared that the next big quake could be on this particular fault - not to be confused with the San Andreas fault.

There is a lot of the news about it where I live showing spots of damage throughout Oakland/Berkeley/Piedmont and Montclair. It looks like a lot of damage for only a 4.2 but that is because the fault runs right through this region.

:scared: in any event. Let's hope the Hayward fault lies quiet for another 50+ years huh?

[slackmaster]

42. I can recall two significant shocks on the HF in the last couple of years

Besides this one.

[caligirl]

51. ljust moved away from the Hayword fault last October. Now we are on the san andreus.

[musiclawyer]

36. I used to live just off Lake Merritt in Oakland

Loved living in Oaktown. But back then, I was very wary of the Hayward Fault. And its the only reason I would not go back. If it blows big, 7 or more, it will make Loma Prieta look like a minor nuisance. Ther are just tooo many people and tooo many big things (hostpitals, airport, the Coliseum, UC Berkeley) either right on it or just off. All those beautiful homes with the million dollar views of the Golden Gate will tumble clean off the hill. It's gonna happen sooner rather than later.

[republikkkon]

38. woke me up

4:45ish in SF. didn't feel too hugh :)

[EFerrari]

54. Woke my cats up and they woke me up.

But, we're on jello out here on the beach. :)

[hedgehog]

39. Earthquake damage is partly Richter scale and partly what kind of ground

you're standing on. You might get one big Whoops! or else several minutes of rocking from the same quake.

You remember all those movies in which the ground cracks open, swallows sometrhing, then snaps shut during a quake? That's based on folk memeory of the New Madrid quakes of 1811 -1812 in which land along the Mississippi liquified briefly, then re-settled as the water drained away. Buildings, trees, cows and people sank into quicksand and vanished.

[EFerrari]

56. This building is on sand and shakes like a hula dancer

over every little event. I either have to get used to it or get better drugs. :)

[smirkymonkey]

57. True, I was talking on the phone one night when I lived in San

Fran - I lived in Pacific Heights, which is Bedrock - and my friend lived in the Marina, which was landfill, when suddenly there was an earthquake. She felt it without a doubt - shaking, things falling off shelves and moving around the room, etc. - whereas, I felt kind of a rolling sensation, like I was on a big wave on the ocean or something. We were only maybe 10 blocks away from each other, but it was bedrock vs. landfill and we had very different experiences of the same exact quake.

[feminazi]

40. North San Jose here

I slept right thru it.

[Retrograde]

41. We had an earthquake?

If I felt anything at that time I probably assumed it was Mr. Retrograde grabbing all the blankets again. I'm mid-Peninsula.

A 4's bigger than we normally get, but isn't worth getting out of bed for.

[cyr330]

45. I didn't feel a thing!

I must have slept right through it. . . .

[galledgoblin]

47. I am way too on edge

when I read about that steam explosion in NYC I practically bolted up from my seat, and today when I saw this headline I had the same reaction. thank God it was tiny!

[EFerrari]

55. Welcome to DU, galledgoblin!

:hi: