Magnitude 4.0 earthquake hits San Francisco

According to the U.S Geological Survey A Magnitude 4.0 Earthquake Hits San Francisco Monday morning in Piedmont, California near Oakland.

The exact time of happening this quake at 6.49 a.m pacific time at depth of 3.1 miles.

The USGS also reported the Epicenter was two miles from Emeryville, California, 3 miles form oakland, 3 miles from Berkelay and 64 miles from Sacramento.  The Quake was felt most strongly on the East Bey, including Oakland, Berkeley and surrounding areas. Leaser shaking was felt in San Francisco.

Once I was writing this article there were no damage or injury reports.

"Although many calls continue, no reports of damage or injury in#Oakland," Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton said on Twitter.

Residents said the quake lasted only a few seconds and sounded like a tree limb cracking. The quake was centered near the junction of the 24 and 13 freeways. Six aftershocks followed.

The temblor appears to have occurred along the Hayward fault, which experts have long said could produce a devastating quake. The fault runs below heavily populated areas of the East Bay. The fault has produced some small quakes recently, including a 4.0 in Fremont in July.

Studies have estimated that a massive quake on the fault could cause $32 billion and leave 20,000 dead and injured.

The Hayward fault, a major branch of the San Andreas fault system, runs for more than 60 miles from Fremont through Hayward, and from goal post to goal post underneath UC Berkeley's football stadium. It runs underneath freeways and aqueducts and close to Bay Area reservoirs, freeways and hospitals.

Geologists divide the fault into two portions: a northern stretch that runs from the Oakland and Berkeley border past El Cerrito, and a southern stretch running from Oakland to Fremont.

Historical records show that the southern portion of the fault ruptured in 1868, in a quake that was known as "the big one" until the 1906 San Francisco quake. It was long thought that the northern part of the fault had ruptured in a large 1836 earthquake.

This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service.

Source:- latimes.com & http://earthquake.usgs.gov/