Features

A magnitude 2.9 earthquake jostled some Berkeley residents awake at 5:58 Thursday morning—a short, sharp reminder of the presence of the Hayward Fault’s fitful presence. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the temblor occurred 4.5 miles beneath Wildcat Creek and just six tenths of a mile east of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and directly beneath the Tilden Park Gold Course. 

Within hours of the quake, 1,048 users had reported their own experiences of the quake on the USGS web site, with reports coming from as far away as Pacifica and Petaluma. 

For quake buffs, the USGS site offers links to maps, seismograph recordings and event reports. The Bay Area map is located at http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/ Maps/122-38.html. 

A second, smaller tremor—technically a microquake—followed at 9:05 a.m., but the 1.5 event didn’t merit a reporting page of its own. 

Earthquake experts have predicted that the Hayward fault—which runs directly beneath Memorial Stadium on the UC Berkeley campus—is the fissure most likely to spawn a major Bay Area earthquake in the next two decades.