San Francisco Rattled by Predawn Earthquake
The San Francisco Bay Area was rattled early this morning by a magnitude 4.3 earthquake along the Hayward fault line
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Sleeping residents of California’s San Francisco Bay Area were rattled awake by a magnitude 4.3 earthquake in the early morning hours of September 22.
The earthquake struck 1.25 miles east-southeast of Berkeley, Calif., with shaking felt as far away as Salinas, Calif., about 100 miles to the south, and Chico, Calif., about 150 miles to the north. The temblor does not pose any tsunami threat, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center.
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The earthquake occurred near the Hayward fault line, which runs from the north side of San Francisco Bay to southeast of San Jose. The largest known earthquake on record in the area of this fault was a magnitude 6.8 event in 1868.
Because of its history, the Hayward fault has been carefully watched by scientists, who worry that the now densely populated region could see much more serious damage the next time a very strong earthquake strikes.
So far, nearly 26,000 people have reported feeling Monday’s quake through USGS’s “Did You Feel It?” reporting tool, which gathers on-the-ground data about the intensity and effects of earthquakes. If you are in the Bay Area—whether you felt the temblor or not—you can fill out the agency’s form to contribute to observations.
Meghan Bartels is a science journalist based in New York City. She joined Scientific American in 2023 and is now a senior news reporter there. Previously, she spent more than four years as a writer and editor at Space.com, as well as nearly a year as a science reporter at Newsweek, where she focused on space and Earth science. Her writing has also appeared in Audubon, Nautilus, Astronomy and Smithsonian, among other publications. She attended Georgetown University and earned a master’s degree in journalism at New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program.
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