A 4.0 quake jolted residents of San Benito County
Hollister – Residents were jolted Wednesday afternoon when a mostly harmless 4.0 earthquake struck between Hollister and San Juan Bautista, followed by two smaller quakes.
“Of course, in San Benito County you get so many earthquakes,” said Steve Walter, a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey. “But this one was a little unusual.”
The quake struck at 1:20pm, with its epicenter located near the intersection of Freitas and Mitchell roads, roughly three miles west of Hollister and five miles east of San Juan Bautista. It registered 4.0 – a “light” earthquake – on the Richter scale, with a 1.0 being a microquake and a 10 being a quake of awesome force. The quake originated 1.9 miles below the Earth’s surface.
The quake was followed by a microquake ranking 2.8 at 1:38pm. A third, even smaller, microquake may have occurred afterward but was not confirmed by the USGS by press time.
Neither the Hollister Police, San Benito County Sheriff’s nor the Gilroy Police departments received reports of damage.
The quake was unusual for two reasons, Walter said. San Benito County quakes usually originate on the San Andreas or Calaveras faults. This one took place from a point between the two and cannot be confirmed to have originated from either.
It was the first 4.0 or greater quake to have occurred in the area between the faults since at least 2000, according to the USGS.
Also, most local earthquakes are characterized by horizontal motion, as the earth’s plates move past one another. This quake, however, moved vertically.
The quake could have been felt as far north as Pleasanton and as far south as Monterey, Walter said. One quake report on the USGS Web site came from San Diego, but Walter said it was highly unlikely.
“Sometimes people hear there was an earthquake and think, ‘Oh, that was what I felt,'” he said. “When usually it’s just something like a truck going by.”
