Oakland became the latest Bay Area city to feel an earthquake on Monday. The quake struck at 2:55 p.m. (local time) with an initial magnitude of 2.9, according to the US Geological Survey.
The earthquake struck at a depth of about 3.85 miles, with an epicenter just north of Montclair.
The series of earthquakes around San Ramon continued into Monday afternoon after at least seven tremors earlier in the day, according to a SFGATE report. According to the US Geological Survey, two other small tremors hit the area – one with a preliminary magnitude of 2.9 at 1:50 p.m., and another with a magnitude of 2.6 at 1:59 p.m.
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UC Berkeley seismologist Roland Burgmann told SFGATE that Monday morning’s earthquakes in San Ramon represent a “flare-up” of a swarm from last month that produced about 90 small tremors in November.
He explained that this type of activity is typical of the San Ramon and Alamo area, which has seen about a dozen similar swarms over the past two to two and a half decades.
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“These earthquakes are a little bit different from the earthquakes we usually see, where we normally see a bigger event first and then you have smaller ones called aftershocks. That’s different in the sense that they come and go for a while, they don’t tend to ever be very big,” he told SFGATE.
Earlier on December 8, a strong earthquake hit the northern coast of Japan on Monday, prompting the country’s weather agency to report two 16-inch tsunami waves and local media reporting several injuries.
According to the US Geological Survey, the magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck at 1415 GMT off the Pacific coast near Misawa at a depth of 53 kilometers (33 mi).
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning and the first wave reached the port of Aomori – the northern region where Misawa is located – at 11:43 a.m. (1443 GMT).
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Japan sits atop four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is one of the most tectonically active countries in the world.
Home to about 125 million people, the archipelago experiences around 1,500 earthquakes each year.
The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and depth below the Earth’s surface.
The weather agency warned that aftershocks were likely in the coming days, noting a slightly increased risk of a magnitude 8 earthquake and potential tsunami along the northeast coast from Chiba, east of Tokyo, to Hokkaido. He advised residents in 182 municipalities in the region to be alert and review their preparedness over the next week.
In brief comments to reporters, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government had set up an emergency task force to quickly assess the extent of the damage. “We put people’s lives first and do everything we can,” she said.
Later, she urged the residents of the region to pay attention to the latest information from local municipalities. “Please be ready to evacuate immediately once you feel the tremor.
(With input from agencies)
