Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Chronicle staff report
San Francisco Chronicle (California, USA)
San Jose -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and an epicenter in the South Bay shook the Bay Area at 8:04 p.m. tonight, rolling and jolting buildings so powerfully that it prompted some people to duck for shelter.
"I thought, oh my god, is this the big one? I felt rumbling around - I was talking on the phone to someone in the neighborhood. She said, I think it's my refrigerator! I kept yelling at her, no, it's an earthquake!" said Greg Clinton, in Westwood Park, near City College of San Francisco, who was sitting down, with his legs on a footstool at home.
In Palo Alto, the police and fire phone lines lit up with callers upset by the quake. Firefighters moved fire engines out of their firehouses as a precaution.
"It felt kinda bouncy in here. Fortunately we have no damage at all in our city," said Palo Alto police dispatcher Terry Andersen.
No reports of injuries or major damage were called in to police or fire agencies.
"It was a good shaking but it wasn't very sharp. It was not knocking-things-off-the-counter type shaking," Sgt. Bill King from Milpitas Police Department said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was five miles northeast of the Alum Rock neighborhood of San Jose. The epicenter was 5.7 miles deep.
Amy Clayton, a clerk at 7-11 in Milpitas, said the quake felt like it lasted a couple of minutes.
"Our mirrors started bouncing up and down - it broke a shelf in the backroom and it broke a jar of jelly," she said. "It could have been a lot worse."
"I thought, oh my god, is this the big one? I felt rumbling around - I was talking on the phone to someone in the neighborhood. She said, I think it's my refrigerator! I kept yelling at her, no, it's an earthquake!" said Greg Clinton, in Westwood Park, near City College of San Francisco, who was sitting down, with his legs on a footstool at home.
In Palo Alto, the police and fire phone lines lit up with callers upset by the quake. Firefighters moved fire engines out of their firehouses as a precaution.
"It felt kinda bouncy in here. Fortunately we have no damage at all in our city," said Palo Alto police dispatcher Terry Andersen.
No reports of injuries or major damage were called in to police or fire agencies.
"It was a good shaking but it wasn't very sharp. It was not knocking-things-off-the-counter type shaking," Sgt. Bill King from Milpitas Police Department said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was five miles northeast of the Alum Rock neighborhood of San Jose. The epicenter was 5.7 miles deep.
Amy Clayton, a clerk at 7-11 in Milpitas, said the quake felt like it lasted a couple of minutes.
"Our mirrors started bouncing up and down - it broke a shelf in the backroom and it broke a jar of jelly," she said. "It could have been a lot worse."
1 comment:
Hey, anyone from San Jose who can tell us what it's like in a 5.6 rated earthquake?
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