(USGS)
A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon south of Hollister, rattling communities across the South Bay and the Central Coast.
The quake struck at 3:23 p.m. about 20 miles south of Gilroy, just outside the small San Benito County community of Tres Pinos, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter appears to have been about 5.7 miles underground, the agency said.
There were no immediate reports of major damage. The temblor was initially reported as a 4.5 earthquake, but the USGS later revised its measurement to a slightly-stronger magnitude of 4.7.
Light shaking could be felt throughout the Bay Area and the Central Coast, according to reports that streamed into the USGS’s website in the minutes after the quake. Some people reported feeling the earthquake as far south as Big Sur and as far east as the Sierra Nevada foothills, east of Merced. Others reported light shaking in the Modesto area.
The USGS reported that the quake activated California’s ShakeAlert system, which issues alerts whenever a quake trips an elaborate series of underground sensors installed throughout the state.
The temblor ranks among the strongest to shake the Bay Area or the surrounding region since a 5.1 quake hit eastern Santa Clara County in late October. It also comes just a few days after a series of smaller quakes — all ranging in magnitude from 3.0 to 2.7 — rattled the Oakland Hills and the East Bay on Saturday.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
Originally published at Jakob Rodgers