The largest earthquake to hit the San Francisco Bay Area in eight years shook buildings, rattled furniture and slowed trains throughout the region on Tuesday, though reports suggested little in the way of major damage or injury.
The magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck eastern Santa Clara County at 11:42 a.m., deep below Joseph D. Grant County Park, about 12 miles east of San Jose. Its epicenter appeared to be a locked-up patch of rocks deep underground on the Calaveras Fault, part of a remote oak-studded landscape about four miles from the nearest housing subdivision.
There were no initial reports of major damage or injury, though public works employees for many Bay Area cities were still assessing essential services and city infrastructure Tuesday afternoon. Santa Clara County officials said around 4 p.m. that a countywide survey had not found any quake-caused damage, injuries or gas leaks.
Residents felt shaking as far away as Salinas and Point Reyes, as well as in Stockton, Merced and Fresno.
“It really rattled things up here,” said Elinor Gates, a staff astronomer at Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton, about 3 miles northeast of the epicenter. “All of us here felt it. Windows and doors were rattling.”
Tuesday’s temblor marked the strongest earthquake in the Bay Area since the magnitude-6.0 Napa quake that damaged hundreds of buildings in the North Bay in 2014. It came just days after the 33rd anniversary of the magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake, which killed 62 people and caused $6 billion in damage on Oct. 17, 1989.
A series of aftershocks rattled the region Tuesday, including a 2.9-magnitude rattler shortly after the main quake and a 3.5-magnitude aftershock around 3 p.m.
There remains a one in 100 chance of an aftershock greater than magnitude 5 by midday Wednesday, according to Annemarie Baltay, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. There also could be 10 to 15 aftershocks of magnitude 3 or greater in the next week, she said.
One ranger at Grant Park, a 10,882-acre expanse located in the foothills of the Diablo Range east of San Jose, said the quake lasted several seconds there, with rolling waves more than jarring shakes.
Across the Bay Area, people rushed to social media to post videos of light fixtures and household items shaking as the quake rolled through the region.
“The vegetables were dancing,” said Maurice Carrubba, of the Grandview restaurant and farm, located high above the Santa Clara valley floor and in the vicinity of the epicenter.
At Evergreen Valley College, located at the base of the east foothills a few miles from the epicenter, the campus was spared from damage. Tammy Nguyen’s theater teacher had just started lecturing when the classroom began rocking. It jostled them harder than any other quake she could remember, she said.
“When it happened, all the students knew to get under the table,” said Nguyen, 21, of San Jose. “We stayed there for a couple of minutes waiting for the aftershock.”
“People were surprised and confused,” Nguyen said.
Across campus at the science building, Ina Tran was holding a centrifuge in one hand and a pipette in the other during her organic chemistry class when she realized something was amiss. At first, she thought a nearby construction project was to blame.
“I felt my hand shaking, and I thought, ‘I don’t think my hand shakes this much,’ ” said Tran, 19, of San Jose. Remarkably, she said, none of the lab’s fragile equipment fell to the ground.
Trains for BART, Caltrain and VTA briefly paused operation to look for problems before resuming at reduced speeds, the agencies stated in tweets after the quake.
Matt Keller, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, said staff members were conducting inspections at the agency’s three water treatment plants and other facilities to check for damage but had found none.
Similarly, PG&E checked natural gas and electrical lines in the region, but had no reports of damage, said spokeswoman Mayra Tostado.
In downtown San Jose, high-rises swayed for moments after the shaking stopped. At SAP Center, the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks pushed ahead with their scheduled game Tuesday night after a full-scale review of the facility found no issues. In Oakland, police evacuated their 8-story downtown headquarters while crews inspected the aging facility for damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s #ShakeAlert system was activated, notifying residents on their phones prior to the start of shaking. Even so, some residents were nonplussed by Tuesday’s temblor, citing the region’s long history of seismic activity.
The Bay region is located within the active boundary between the Pacific and the North American tectonic plates, where the Pacific plate slowly and continually slides northwest past the North American plate. The same geologic process is responsible for the San Francisco Bay region’s beautiful coastlines, bays, hills and valleys.
“It was a surprise, but it didn’t worry me,” said Kai Bryson, a San Jose State University student and Fremont resident who was on a park bench when the earthquake hit. “I’ve lived in California all my life, and I’ve felt earthquakes of this magnitude before. It didn’t feel that big.”
Should any further aftershocks hit, the U.S. Geological Survey recommends people who are indoors stay there, taking shelter under a piece of furniture, in a hallway or against an inside wall, away from windows, fireplaces and heavy objects.
Anyone outdoors should get into the open away from buildings, power lines and other things that could fall. If driving, stop carefully and move out of traffic. Avoid bridges, trees and other falling objects. Stay in your car until the shaking stops.
Bay Area News Group staff members Linda Zavoral, Robert Salonga, George Avalos, Katie Lauer, Austin Turner, Harry Harris, Rick Hurd and Dylan Bouscher contributed to this report.
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