4.4 quake hits the Central Coast

A 4.4-magnitude earthquake hit Monterey County Tuesday at 5:20 a.m. The quake was not big in size, but folks across the central coast said they felt it.

Hundreds of people went on KION’s Facebook page to talk about it.

The quake’s epicenter was near Greenfield. Business owners said the quake really didn’t rattle their stores much but it did rattle a few nerves.

Manuel Baron is the store manager at La Esperanza market and he said he slept right through the earthquake.

Baron found out about the quake on Facebook, and he feared the worst at his store.

“I expected to open the store and find a mess, but there was really no signs of an earthquake,” said Baron.

The quake was centered just a few miles from the store. Baron said things were better than he expected, even though the shelves were stocked to the edge.

“I was already kind of like, Ah, I’m going to have to pull out the mop and the broom and clean up stuff,” said Baron.

People as far as Fresno to Santa Cruz said they felt this quake even if it wasn’t that big.

Quake experts said the shallower the earthquake, the more shaking and the greater the distance the earthquake will be felt.

Hartnell College geology instructor Bob Barminski said the 4.4 quake was relatively shallow, about 5.6 miles deep, right near the San Andreas fault. He said it’s unusual people felt it so far away.

“That’s due to the shallow nature of the earthquake because it was just a few miles deep, those sediments at the top. The energy can propogate through those for a longer distance,”said Barminski.

But the quake still didn’t wake up Manuel Baron.

“I’ve slept through most of them, so it hasn’t really been a big deal,” said Baron.