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Earthquake shakes Bay Area, no
casualty
WSN Network
SAN JOSE: The San Francisco Bay area was shaken by an earthquake
which registered a magnitude-5.6 earthquake on Tuesday night. The
temblor rattled homes and nerves. No immediate reports of serious
damage or injuries have trickled in so far.
The temblor struck exactly at 8:04 p.m., about 9 miles northeast of
San Jose, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was felt as far
east as Sacramento and as far north as Sonoma. California Highway
Patrol received no reports of damage or injuries.
For teh Bay Area, this was the strongest tremor since the 7.2 scaled
1989 one which left 62 dead.
The epicenter of the quake was near Alum Rock, in the Diablo Range
foothills east of San Jose — not far from the home of San Jose Mayor
Chuck Reed.
One report said pictures fell off the walls of Reed's house, but the
mayor said there was no major damage there.
The USGS reported 10 aftershocks, the biggest with a preliminary
magnitude of 2.1. In downtown San Jose, the quake caused a pipe to
break, streaming water into the parking garage of a condo building,
the Mercury News reported.
An employee at Beverages and More, a liquor store in Milpitas, a few
miles from the epicenter, reported a few broken wine bottles.
All trains in the Bay Area, underground as well as overground, were
stopped soon after 8 p.m. for five minutes. Train operators were
then instructed to run trains at half their normal speed, and look
out the windows and perform track inspections at every stop.
Earthquakes powerful enough to be felt through the Central Valley
have been of increasing concern since Hurricane Katrina because of
their potential to weaken the earthen levees that channel rivers
throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
31 October, 2007
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