California earthquake: Early morning 4.9 quake shakes Oakland, San Francisco

Residents across the San Francisco Bay Area were jolted awake early Thursday, April 2, after a preliminary magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck at 1:41 a.m., according to the United States Geological Survey. The earthquake was centered in the Santa Cruz Mountains, with strong shaking reported in Oakland, San Francisco, and as far north as Petaluma.

The quake was initially reported at magnitude 5.1 before being revised down to 4.9. Reports of damage were not immediately available, though earthquake alerts were sent to numerous phones in the region, as per sfchronicle.

According to official data, the quake measured M 4.9 and occurred 1 km ESE of Boulder Creek on April 2, 2026 at a depth of 10.9 km.


The tremor comes shortly after a much stronger seismic event in Southeast Asia. Earlier, a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Northern Maluku Sea off Ternate on Wednesday, April 1, the United States Geological Survey said, triggering tsunami warnings for parts of Indonesia and raising alerts across neighboring Southeast Asian nations. The quake, initially recorded at magnitude 7.8, hit in the Molucca Sea near the center of the Indonesian archipelago, the USGS reported, prompting “tsunami alerts” for nearby nations, according to BBC.