‘The whole bay just woke up.’ Quake rattles California – but not its sense of humor
An earthquake early Thursday sent Californians in the Bay Area scrambling – for their phones to post on Twitter.
A preliminary 4.4 magnitude quake rattled the San Francisco Bay Area at 2:39 a.m. Pacific time Thursday, reported the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake’s epicenter was 2 miles from Berkeley and had a preliminary depth of 8 miles. No damage or injuries were reported. People felt the quake as far south as San Jose.
Fitting that the Berkeley #earthquake is a 4.7 because that’s the minimum GPA to get into UC Berkeley. #GoBears
— Christopher A. Booker (@Bookerc94) January 4, 2018
Bay Area residents immediately took to Twitter to comment on the early morning shakeup.
The whole bay just woke up #earthquake
— Jay Smith (@JaySmithTech) January 4, 2018
Holy Snickerdoodles!!!!
— C. Conniff (@CConniff85) January 4, 2018
That was bigger than usual.. #earthquake pic.twitter.com/IL8gnpcdLd
Mother Nature just sent everyone the same “You up?” text #earthquake
— Catherine Millmann (@cat_millmann) January 4, 2018
Twitter forreal the most reliable news source... I had to check here first to make sure I wasn't crazy. #earthquake
— ty$ (@Tyriveraa) January 4, 2018
When you wake up from an #earthquake pic.twitter.com/3C9hYa0PgR
— Alyssa Goulart (@AlyssaGoulart) January 4, 2018
It hasn’t even been a full week of 2018 and god is out here really trying to end California huh... #earthquake pic.twitter.com/yYcHJUva74
— Xavier D (@Only_1_xavier) January 4, 2018
Some commenters joked about California’s new law legalizing recreational marijuana.
California wakes up to a 4.5 earthquake... Luckily, they can take an herbal remedy to calm their nerves. #earthquake #California
— aRandomNote (@SongTheory101) January 4, 2018
Others took shots at President Donald Trump.
The Northeast is shut down due to a storm called #BOMBCYLONE and the Bay Area just woke up to an #EARTHQUAKE.
— Av Gutman (@abgutman) January 4, 2018
This plant is ill. Our behavior is the disease.
...and Trump is an idiot.
News: Trump's racist policies cause 4.5 Magnitude #earthquake in San Francisco Bay Area; some businesses closed after Russian scientists seen leaving.
— MαχιмυsƦιsιηg (@Maximus_4EVR) January 4, 2018
And, of course, plenty of people tweeted about the absurdity of tweeting during an earthquake.
Nothing brings the Bay Area together more than tweeting about an #earthquake in the middle of the night.
— Nicklaus Morton (@NicklausMorton) January 4, 2018
I love how everyone’s first reaction in an #earthquake in SF is to tweet and not, you know, not tweet and try to survive.
— Marcus Ismael (@marcus_ismael) January 4, 2018
This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 6:37 AM with the headline "‘The whole bay just woke up.’ Quake rattles California – but not its sense of humor."