Early-morning earthquake jolts many locals from slumber
San Martin – It was “a rude awakening” for some South County residents who were shaken out of bed when a 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck San Martin about 5:30am Thursday.
“It was a jolt,” said De Paul Circle resident John Murphy. “I’m telling you, it was under our home.”
The Murphy’s live 3.5 miles from the quake’s epicenter. The couple jumped out of bed when the wall unit behind them started trembling and raced to check on their sleeping son. Photographs were knocked off center and hung at a slant on the walls.
“I haven’t felt one for a long time,” said Nancy Murphy. “It’s kind of scary because we are due and it’s been so long.”
The last earthquake to shake South County occurred Jan. 7, 2003, when a 4.3-magnitude quake hit south of Hollister. A 4.9-magnitude temblor shook Gilroy in May 2002.
No injuries or damage were reported to police after Thursday’s quake. However, it was felt throughout parts of San Francisco. A series of aftershocks followed – though none reached above a magnitude 2.8.
Morgan Hill resident Dan Rocca felt one large shudder and thought about his business – Rocca’s Market on Monterey Highway. But when he walked into the grocery store Thursday morning he found only a few bottles of salad dressing and paper products had fallen from the shelves. He only lost one bottle of shampoo to the quake.
“As soon as I walked in I looked over there,” he said pointing to the bottles of wine stacked along the wall. “Because in 1989 (during the Loma Prieta earthquake) everything came down.”
The Loma Prieta quake measured between a magnitude 6.9 to 7.1 and caused extensive damage throughout the Bay Area.
Gilroy is sandwiched between the San Andreas Fault to the west and the Calaveras Fault to the east. Thursday’s earthquake was along the Calaveras Fault.
According to retired county geologist Jim Berkland – famous for predicting the Loma Prieta quake during the World Series – Thursday’s earthquake struck nearly the same spot as the Coyote Lake Quake Aug. 6, 1979.
Berkland has made a controversial name for himself in science by predicting earthquakes.
“A lot of people still think it’s impossible,” he said. “But I’ve been doing it for 35 years.”
Berkland posts his predictions on his Web site www.syzygyjob.com. The Murphy’s visited the site Thursday morning on their laptop to see whether he hit the mark.
He had.
He posted an 80 percent chance of an earthquake between 3.5 and 6.5 magnitude within 140 miles of Mt. Diablo between June 11 and June 18.
They considered their pets’ behavior – signs Berkland uses to predict quakes: Just days before the quake their cat ran away. And after the temblor, their 6-year-old dog fell into the pool – something she’d never done before.
According to Berkland, animals navigate using the earth’s magnetic field.
“Before earthquakes the earth changes the magnetic property and confuses animals,” he explained. “There are lots of these clues what I call ‘high science,’ has yet to accept.”
But the Murphy’s weren’t the only ones with a story to tell.
Tourists Claude and Gloria Carpenter from Salem, Ore., were asleep in their Gilroy hotel room when they first felt the tremors.
“We had one earthquake in Oregon and I slept through it,” Gloria said with a smile as she shopped for antiques along Monterey Street. “It was like, ‘Did I dream this?’ The bed was shaking but it was so short. This one could have gone on a little longer and I would have appreciated it more. I had to call my grandchildren and tell them. This will be memorable.”
