Earthquake in San Francisco

Two earthquakes reportedly struck the San Francisco Bay Area within eight seconds of each other on Monday morning. According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s report, a magnitude-3.5 earthquake struck about 8 miles northeast of San Francisco at 5:33 a.m., which was followed by a 4.0-magnitude quake only about eight seconds later near the city of El Cerrito. “There were two earthquakes … and since then there have been a lot of aftershocks, which is totally to be expected, down in the magnitude 2.0 range,” Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the USGS’ National Earthquake Information Centre in Colorado, told MSNBC.com.

The effects of the earthquake could be felt within a 60-mile radius from Santa Rosa in the north to Santa Cruz in the south. Despite this, authorities working at the California Highway Patrol, San Francisco police and El Cerrito police stated that no immediate calls were made from people reporting injuries or damages. The only problem that San Francisco residents experienced after the quake was that the Bay Area commuter trains were delayed to inspect the tracks.

According to seismologists, the two San Francisco earthquakes took place along the Hayward Fault, which some scientists consider to be the most dangerous fault lines in California. In 2003, the USGS said that there’s a 27 per cent likelihood of a 6.7-magnitude in the Hayward Fault within the next 30 years. Geologists believe that the El Cerrito area is a place where different types of rocks get stuck and then release causing quakes. Despite suffering a one-two punch with the quakes, authorities in the area have not reported any serious damage.