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3.6 Earthquake Hits Berkeley, Third Jolt Within a Week

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The quake hit at 5:36 a.m. USGS info here.

The epicenter was right between The Greek Theatre and Memorial Stadium. Here’s the Google satellite map from the USGS. You can zoom all the way in to see the exact spot.

The Hayward Fault, it would seem, has a bone to pick with Berkeley. This is the third 3.6-plus quake to hit the city in the last seven days. On Oct 20, a 4.0 and a 3.8 jolted the area within six hours of each other.

Late October seems to be Hayward Fault quake season. The biggest quake along the fault occurred on Oct 21, 1868 — a 6.8 monster. From the USGS:

The magnitude 6.8 Hayward earthquake on October 21, 1868 was one of the most damaging earthquakes in California history. Known at the time as the “Great San Francisco earthquake,” it violently shook San Francisco and surrounding cities, killing 30. Yet, few San Francisco Bay Area residents know about the earthquake.

Recent geological studies indicate that the average interval between the past five large earthquakes on the Hayward Fault is 140 years, meaning that another large quake can occur at any time. Because the Bay Area’s population has grown by more than 25 times since 1868, the next large quake could potentially cause hundreds of deaths and leave thousands homeless.

Here’s a 2008 feature from KQED’s QUEST program called “The Hayward Fault: Predictable Peril.”

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