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‘Micro’ quake hits city early on Monday

Daily Planet staff
Tuesday December 11, 2001

A magnitude 2.6 “micro earthquake” that apparently did little more than rattle a few Berkeley windows at 2:54 a.m. Monday was preceded by two even smaller quakes, one measuring a magnitude of .9 at 2:44 a.m. and another measuring 2.3 at 2:42 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park. 

The epicenter lay on the Hayward fault, three miles east-southeast of the city’s center and thought to be four miles deep. 

Hal Macbeth, USGS duty seismologist, said there are at least 10 Northern California quakes every day rated at magnitudes of less than 3.  

People generally do not know about them, he said. The three quakes are “pretty normal activity,” he added, noting they were unrelated to a larger-magnitude 3.6 quake reported in The Geysers, about 27 miles north of Santa Rosa. 

City spokesperson Stephanie Lopez said no damage was reported in Berkeley as a result of the quake.