Living in an active fault zone like the San Francisco Bay Area has inevitably led to many earthquakes that I have experienced in my 20 years, but luckily none have caused any major damage. My house is about a mile away from the San Andreas Fault but there are also many other small active faults around the Bay Area as seen in the map below.
(The San Andreas fault is light green and the Hayward Fault is yellow)
I do remember one earthquake; the most powerful one in my area since I was born. On October 30th 2007, I was in second grade and around 8pm I remember getting ready for bed. I was reading Little House on the Prairie with my mom because I loved the book series and we read a few chapters every night. My brother and dad were upstairs, working on a school project for my brother when all of a sudden the house started shaking and my books started falling out of my bookcase. At first I thought my brother and dad were running around or jumping upstairs but it got stronger and my dad and brother came running downstairs while my mom and I ran into my doorway to hold on. The shaking quickly subsided and we all went outside to see other neighbors also running outside and we gathered on the street to excitedly discuss what had just happened. The next day in school, my classmates and I all recounted our experience with the earthquake the night before and some of my friends had dishes or cups fall out of cupboards. I remember this earthquake very vividly because it was a very exciting event especially for a seven year old.
The map above shows the distance from my house to the epicenter which is about a 30 minute drive. This earthquake, named the Alum Rock Quake, was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake stemming from the Hayward Fault. It was the largest earthquake in the area in over two decades and triggered over 35 aftershocks. Along with the San Andreas, the Hayward Fault is one of the most active in the Bay Area. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) predicts that within the next 30 years there is a 72% chance of an earthquake bigger than a magnitude 6.7 hitting the bay area with a 31% chance that it comes from the Hayward fault and a 21% chance that it comes from the San Andreas. An earthquake of this magnitude would affect almost all 7 million people in the bay area and cause issues with liquefaction in neighborhoods along the Bay. Californians know that they are overdue for ‘the big one’ but hopefully the architecturally ‘earthquake proof’ buildings and earthquake preparedness in schools will lessen the damage and effect. My family’s wooden house that is supposed to sway with the earthquake and the emergency earthquake box that we have in our garage provides me with some peace of mind that hopefully we will be okay when ‘the big one’ hits.
“Earthquake Hazards of The Bay Area Today.” U.S. Geological Survey, earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1868calif/virtualtour/modern.php.
Mckinley, Jesse. “A Quake in the Bay Area Raises Concerns.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Nov. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/us/01quake.html.
Ting, Eric. “Which Fault Line Do I Live on? A Guide to the Major Bay Area Faults.” SFGATE, San Francisco Chronicle, 31 Jan. 2018, www.sfgate.com/local-donotuse/article/Bay-Area-fault-line-San-Andreas-Fault-Hayward-12530797.php.
Woah! How did the aftershocks compare to the initial quake?
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