Magnitude 4.8 earthquake jolts wilderness area of central California

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake jolted central California on October 15. According to a US geological survey, the temblors occurred at 12:42 pm at a depth of 6 miles (9.6 kilometers). The epicenter was about 16 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Hollister in a rugged mountainous region and agricultural areas to its west. The USGS citizen who reported to a webpage said that the tremors were felt in the communities around Monterey Bay situated north to the San Francisco region, south along the Central Coast and to the east in the Central Valley. The quake was originally reported as having a magnitude of 5, then 4.8, but has since been downgraded, according to USGS.

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Comes a day after a 4.5 magnitude quake hit San Francisco

The San Francisco Bay Area was rattled by a 4.5 magnitude earthquake on late Monday. The quake was centered near Pleasant Hill, northeast of Oakland, but it was felt widely. Veteran seismologist, Lucy Jones tweeted that the quake occurred in such a section of the San Andreas Fault which previously has had many earthquakes of a similar magnitude. According to the reports, chief environmental health and hazardous materials officer of Contra Costa County, Randy Sawyer said the Pleasant Hill quake caused malfunctions at the Shell and Marathon oil refineries in Martinez.

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'No oil spills or releases were reported'

Marathon oil spokesperson said that no oil spills or releases were reported from the refinery. She said the workers are working to find any fault in the equipment to ensure a safe start and return to normal operations. Some equipments at the Shell refinery was temporarily affected by the quake but the operations returned to normal according to the spokesperson Ray Fisher. More than 67,000 people posted about the earthquake on the US Geological Survey's citizen reporting web page.

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