Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990 TAG: 9004190171
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WATSONVILLE, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
There were no reports of injuries or major damage from Wednesday morning's quakes, the largest measuring up to 5.5 on the Richter scale. Eight others registered at least 3.3.
The temblors on the San Andreas Fault were felt from San Francisco to King City, 150 miles south. The San Andreas also caused the 1906 and Oct. 17 quakes.
"All the memories came back to the kids - this one especially," Darrell Daniels said with his 4-year-old daughter, Eleth, on his lap. "She won't let me go."
The family is living in a mobile home because their home in downtown Watsonville was condemned after the October quake.
Wednesday's aftershocks were centered about four miles east of Watsonville, 60 miles south of San Francisco. October's 7.1-magnitude quake caused major damage to the farming community.
The temblors began at 6:38 a.m., shortly after a group of Great Quake surivors gathered in San Francisco to commemorate the 1906 disaster. The strongest quake Wednesday struck at 6:54 a.m. In all, about 75 were recorded, according to Pat Jorgenson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.
Nine quakes of 3.3 or larger were recorded, the USGS said.
The University of California-Berkeley Seismographic Station said the strongest quake had a preliminary reading of 5.5 on the Richter scale. Allen Lindh of the USGS issued a preliminary report of 5.4.
The Richter scale is a gauge of energy released by an earthquake, as measured by the ground motion recorded on a seismograph. Every increase of one number, for example from magnitude 5.5 to magnitude 6.5, means that the ground motion is 10 times greater.
"We are considering them aftershocks. They occurred in the same location of other aftershocks of Loma Prieta," said David Oppenheimer, a Geological Survey seismologist. Loma Prieta was the name given to October's quake.
He said aftershocks from a magnitude-7.1 quake can continue for two years.
Early damage reports from the Watsonville area were light, with some dishes broken and small rockslides on Highway 152 into Watsonville. San Francisco police said many worried residents called, but no damage was reported.
Wednesday marked the 84th anniversary of the 1906 quake, which struck at 5:13 a.m. on April 18. Although the Richter scale didn't exist then, it was later determined that the quake's magnitude was 8.3.
For decades it was believed that about 700 people died in the 1906 earthquake. But in recent years, research by San Francisco City Archivist Gladys Hansen documented at least 2,500 deaths, and she has said the real toll may be much higher.
by CNB