BOULDER CREEK — An earthquake centered in Santa Cruz County rattled numerous communities, including the Bay Area and Monterey Bay regions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake had a magnitude of 4.6, the Geological Survey reported on its website. The temblor’s epicenter was just east of Boulder Creek in Santa Cruz County. The shaker was reported at 1:41 a.m.
U.S. Geological Survey map of an earthquake in Santa Cruz County on April 2, 2026. The long line near the epicenter is the San Andreas Fault. (USGS)
Reports received by this news organization indicated the quake was felt in the San Jose, Santa Cruz, and East Bay areas. The USGS received reports that people sensed the quake from as far away as Sacramento, Santa Rosa, the Central Valley and King City in Monterey County.
The San Andreas Fault is the major geological feature that’s nearest to the quake, a U.S. Geological Survey map shows.
The quake’s depth was 6.8 miles below the earth’s surface, the USGS estimated.
Public safety officers were observed in Boulder Creek attempting to assess any possible damage.
The quake triggered multiple social media alerts. No goods appeared to be knocked off the shelves at a local hardware store and supermarket in Boulder Creek, this news organization’s direct observations showed.
But the earthquake rattled a region rocked hard by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a magnitude 6.9 named after a peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains that killed some 60 people across the Bay Area, most of them in a collapsed double-deck stretch of Interstate 880 in Oakland, but three also in downtown Santa Cruz’ Pacific Garden Mall where the shaking also toppled buildings.
That earthquake more than 36 years ago was on the minds of many early Thursday morning in the Santa Cruz mountains where residents awakened by strong shaking in the middle of the night posted to social media groups.
“Wow,” said Amber Bonner in an early morning post shortly afterward she said could be republished. “I’ve never run to my children faster.”
Bay Area News Group staffers John Woolfolk, Shomik Mukherjee, Julia Sulek and Sarah Dussault contributed to this report.