Northern California residents were shaken up by a preliminary magnitude 4.2 earthquake on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The agency detected the earthquake at around 8:01 p.m. near Aromas, and residents from several cities felt the shaking, including San Jose, San Francisco, Pacifica, San Martin, Berkeley, and Hollister.
Gentle Earthquake
The USGS said that the epicenter of the quake was located 7.1 miles northeast of Prunedale and a depth of 4.35 miles. Due to the shaking, BART posted on its Twitter handler that there were expected delays on trips as, arguing, “trains are running at reduced speeds while we complete track inspections.”
Social media users quickly went online to post about the sudden quake. Some local officials also detailed their experiences, such as State Senator Scott Wiener, who posted on Twitter, saying, “It looks like a pandemic & wildfires aren’t enough. Now an earthquake. Everyone, please stay safe.”
Fortunately, the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office posted on its Twitter handler that the earthquake did not cause any expected tsunami’s in the area. Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety officials advised residents to “DROP! COVER! HOLD ON!” on their Twitter account, warning of potential larger quakes in the Bay Area.
The magnitude 4.2 earthquake was a gentle reminder to residents that the region was prone to experiencing similar incidents, said the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. The agency put up a link on its website that showed people how to prepare for the next earthquake, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“The good news about earthquakes is there is a lot we can do BEFORE the next time the earth moves to prevent A LOT of damage & hardship an #earthquake can cause,” emergency management officials said.
