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An earthquake rattled northern California at 10:40 A.M. (Pacific Daylight Time) today, centered 11 miles (18 kilometers) north of the city of Morgan Hill and 16 miles (25 kilometers) east by southeast of San Jose. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed the initial magnitude of the quake as 4.3 on the Richter scale.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the earthquake could be "felt throughout the Bay Area and beyond from Santa Rosa and Napa on the north, Soledad on the south, and Groveland in Tuolumne County on the east." The CBS affiliate in Sacramento reported that the "Morgan Hill police dispatcher said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage"; the dispatcher told the Associated Press that the tremors were "short, but strong."
A 4.3 earthquake is not uncommon; the USGS says that several thousand quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater occur each year across the globe. And, of course, California is well known for its temblors, including the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta quake of 1989 that ravaged the Bay Area, resulting in 63 deaths and crippling the region's infrastructure. Just this past weekend, the AP published an article detailing the extent of seismological monitoring along the state's San Andreas fault. For more, see our in-depth report on earthquakes.
Map: USGS