For the second day in a row, Berkeley was shaken awake — but early-risers were already up for the magnitude 3.5 quake at 6:11 a.m. Thursday.
The earthquake’s epicenter was near Tunnel Road and State Route 24, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It had a depth of 7.2 miles.
BART trains were halted for inspections, which is routine after an earthquake. As a result, users should expect residual 15-minute delays Thursday morning.
Early Wednesday morning there was another jolt in the same location.
Both mornings, Twitter was abuzz with startled East Bay residents.
“Cool new earthquake alarm clock,” tweeted Ariel Dovas. “Honored to apparently live on some kind of hip new fault line.”
By 6:45 a.m. the U.S. Geological Survey had received more than 2,000 reports of Thursday’s earthquake. USGS employees are affected by the government shutdown, and the agency’s website says information on it might not be up to date.
Quakes in the magnitude 2.5 to 3 range are considered the smallest generally felt by people, whereas a magnitude 4 can cause moderate damage. The last magnitude 3.5 earthquake felt in Berkeley was in May.
