San Francisco Bay Area struck by magnitude 3.6 earthquake

‘Stuff fell off the shelves at my house. First time ever in an earthquake’

The San Francisco Bay Area in California has been struck by a magnitude 3.6 earthquake.

The quake registered early Saturday at 3.39am PST, according to the US Geological Survey.

It was centred in the East Bay at a depth of 5.8km just northeast of El Cerrito, located north of Oakland.

According to SFGate, the epicentre seemed to be the Hillside Natural Area, a park in El Cerrito.

On 25 October, the Bay Area was struck by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake – the strongest since 2014.

There are no reports of injuries or damage, ABC7 noted.

The quake went through the Hayward fault through the Berkeley Hills, waking residents of the East Bay, according to CBS.

The Hayward fault goes through heavily populated areas, including the UC Berkeley Campus and Memorial Stadium.

The Berkeley Lab asked Twitter users if they felt the earthquake.

“Yup. Wide awake now here in Berkeley after that earthquake and wake up. And hard to go back to sleep,” eveblossom wrote.

“Yes, it was very strong,” Pamela Davis said. “Shook entire house.”

Damian Hayden added that “stuff fell off the shelves at my house. First time ever in an earthquake”.

The USGS said they received reports of people sensing the quake from across the East Bay, as well as San Francisco and its peninsula, and the South Bay.

The last large earthquake along the Hayward fault struck on 21 October 1868, demolishing Hayward’s downtown area. Five people were killed and 30 were injured. The estimated magnitude was 6.8.

Since that time, the area along the fault has been populated with millions of new residents and homes.