For many Bay Area residents, Monday morning began with a rude jolt.
A 4.3 magnitude earthquake centered beneath Berkeley, Calif., rattled windows and woke up thousands of people across the densely populated Northern California region at 2:56 a.m., according to reports from the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake along the Hayward Fault, which runs beneath much of the Bay Area, didn’t cause significant damage, based on initial reports.
According to the intensity scale that earthquake scientists use, the shaking from Monday morning’s temblor was considered light. That scale describes such an earthquake as causing almost no damage, though it might have felt to many like a “heavy truck striking a building,” said Angela Lux, a scientist at the Berkeley Seismology Lab.
“People don’t like to hear that, because they feel like they were going to die,” Ms. Lux said. “It’s a great reminder to people that this is what ‘light shaking’ feels like. The Hayward fault is capable of a really big earthquake”
The Hayward fault, which runs directly beneath the University of California, Berkeley campus, last experienced a major earthquake in 1868 — a 6.8 magnitude quake that killed 30 people and is considered one of the most destructive in California history.
Scientists say the fault is overdue for another violent rupture. A 6.8 earthquake would be more than 5,600 times stronger than Monday morning’s quake, according to U.S.G.S.
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