Residents of Northern California were rattled in the early hours of Thursday morning by an earthquake centered near Boulder Creek, Calif. Preliminary estimates showed that the quake had a magnitude of 4.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Most of the more than six million people in the region live in structures that are resistant to earthquake shaking, according to the U.S.G.S. “Some broken dishes and windows would be expected in populated areas near the epicenter,” according to the agency.
Some light or weak shaking may have been felt in nearby cities including San Francisco.
The temblor, which occurred at 1:41 a.m. Pacific, struck during what experts say could be a period of increased seismic activity in the state, after decades of relative quiet. But its occurrence does not signal that a larger, catastrophic quake is any more likely.
Seismologists have long warned that an overdue “Big One,” the likes of which California has not experienced since 1906, could happen at any time. They have urged residents to prepare as much as possible by assembling emergency supplies and practicing “drop, cover and hold on” exercises with their children.
It has been three decades since a significant quake struck California.
The Loma Prieta earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.9, shook the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1989, leaving 63 people dead and more than 3,700 people injured.
A magnitude 6.7 quake in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1994 left 60 people dead, about 7,000 injured and more than 40,000 buildings damaged. The catastrophe also revealed a major defect in some steel-frame buildings, including many high rises, which under extreme shaking could collapse.
Claire Moses contributed reporting.
Jill Cowan is a Times reporter based in Los Angeles, covering the forces shaping life in Southern California and throughout the state.
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