A 4.3 magnitude earthquake shook buildings, rattled windows,
broke bottles of wine and sent office workers diving for desks
across Hollister on Tuesday.
A 4.3 magnitude earthquake shook buildings, rattled windows, broke bottles of wine and sent office workers diving for desks across Hollister on Tuesday.
The 2:29 p.m. quake likely was centered on the Paicines Fault, which runs between the San Andreas and Calaveras faults, one mile west of Ridgemark Golf and Country Club at a point five miles below the earth’s surface, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Service.
“We got a good jolt,” said Rob Stevens, executive chef at the Inn at Tres Pinos, minutes after the quake, “but nothing broke.”
Further away in Hollister, Dorothy McNett lost about $300 worth of wine and glassware in her San Benito Street shop precariously packed with fragile, high-end gourmet items.
“This old building held up pretty well,” McNett said. “It jerked up and came down again, making some interesting crack formations on the floor. It was very loud and very abrupt. About $300 worth of stuff ended on the floor, mostly wine, olive oil and seasonings. It was like a gourmet salad bowl when it was done. None of the good stuff or glassware got broken. It stayed put.”
Though the quake was not as big as the 5.2 rumbling temblor that hit near San Juan Bautista in 1999, those who felt it agreed that the up and down thrust made it seem much stronger.
County communications reported numerous calls to 911 after the sharp five-second jolt, but no reports of injuries or property damage.
Within 30 minutes, the USGS had received 777 reports of the quake on its Web site, including those from people who felt it as far away as San Francisco, Monterey, Soledad, Pleasanton and Merced. The furthest report of a person feeling the quake came from Sacramento, 186 miles away.
The coordinates were 36 deg. 48.4 min. N (36.806N), 121 deg. 23.3 min. W (121.389W).
Just after midnight on Tuesday a 1.8 magnitude quake struck two miles southwest of San Juan Bautista.
