2 Earthquakes Hit Tri-Valley, Felt Across East Bay

BLACKHAWK, CA — A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck Blackhawk Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The temblor was reported at 1:11 p.m. A second earthquake measuring a magnitude 3.5 struck the same area at 1:24 p.m., according to the USGS. The quake was centered 7.5 miles east of Blackhawk near the Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County.

The quakes were felt strongly in Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, Walnut Creek and throughout the East Bay. In fact, people reported to the USGS that they felt it almost as far south as Santa Cruz. Check the USGS map below.

No injuries were immediately reported as a result of today’s temblors. Many residents described the first quake as a “jolt.”

A spokesperson at Blackhawk Country Club, near the quakes’ epicenter, said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries anywhere within the community.

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“We briefly slowed our trains but the longest delay was approximately 10 minutes,” BART spokesperson Chris Filippi said. “There have been no reports of any damage to the BART system.”

Livermore Police Department and the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department reported that there were no injuries or significant damage due to the quakes, according to City of Livermore spokesperson Stephanie Egidio.

“We did activate our earthquake protocol, which included preparing our apparatus for additional quakes and assessing our infrastructure,” Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department reported. The agency said the quakes are a reminder to always be prepared for a larger-scale earthquake or other disaster (see more information about emergency preparedness).

Big 5 Sporting Goods on Las Positas Road in Livermore did have a few items did fall off store shelves but there was no damage and no one was hurt; the store remained open. Nearby Big Lots also had items fall during the quake, so the store temporarily closed for cleanup; Target and Sally Beauty, which are in the same shopping center, were not answering phones following the quakes.

City of Dublin spokesperson Shari Jackman and City of Pleasanton spokesperson Cindy Chin said their respective cities had no reports of injury or significant damage. Further north in the Tri-Valley, spokesman Geoff Gillette from the Town of Danville said the same.

The quakes struck in the area of the Greenville Fault. The last damaging (M5.8 and M5.4) earthquakes on the fault occurred January 1980 in the Livermore area, according to the USGS. “The 1980 earthquake was a surface rupturing event, unusual for an event of that small size,” the USGS reported.

“The 2003 Working Group for California Earthquake Probability assigned a 3 percent probability that the Greenville Fault would produce a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake in the next 30 years,” according to the USGS. “The Greenville Fault is probably the least well understood fault in the San Francisco Bay region.”

A smaller, 2.2 earthquake, was centered near Byron at 2:03 p.m.

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