Small Tremblor Shakes Rohnert Park

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a small earthquake that struck just four miles from Rohnert Park at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The 2.2-magnitude earthquake centered four miles east-northeast from the city, and had a a .2-mile depth. According to the USGS, seven people reported on the USGS website they had felt the temblor throughout five ZIP codes.

Earthquake scientists today say there’s a 62 percent chance of an earthquake with a magnitude 6.7 or greater to strike the Bay Area in the next 30 years — and the worst place to be is on the southern section of the Rodgers Creek Fault — in Petaluma, Cotati and Rohnert Park, as reported by Rohnert Park Patch last April in our series titled .

Here is an excerpt ():

“In our probability studies, the Rodgers Creek Fault has the highest probability of producing the next large Bay Area earthquake of any of the faults we’ve looked at,” said David P. Schwartz, an earthquake scientist and with the U.S. Geological Survey and co-chair of the Bay Area Earthquake Alliance. “Towns like Petaluma and Rohnert Park, which are really very, very close to the fault, are going to suffer a lot of damage.”

“When we have that large earthquake, we’re going to see a certain amount of liquefaction damage, lateral spreading … shaking, it’s just inevitable,” Schwartz said. “What people here should be aware of is that we’re not making these probabilities up.”

Schwartz explained the likelihood of a major earthquake is so great because since 1906 there’s been very little earthquake activity in the Bay Area. 

“When 1906 occurred, it was so large that it released all of the stresses in region, and it relaxed the earth’s crust — all of these faults, like the Rodgers Creek — were relaxed,” Schwartz said. “The Bay Area has been very very quiet in terms of earthquake activity ever since. That’s why we’re so concerned.”

By Angela Hart and Bay City News. Copyright © 2012 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited