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4.2 earthquake jolts San Francisco Bay area

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Times Staff Writer

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake awakened East Bay residents early Friday but caused little reported damage and no injuries, officials said.

The temblor, which struck at 4:40 a.m., was centered in east Oakland, about half a mile east of the Hayward fault, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The shaking was felt as far away as San Francisco and Napa.

“It’s a run-of-the-mill little earthquake,” said Chris Mills, a geologist with the Geological Survey. “It’s a significant fault, but a small quake.”

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Still, the temblor shattered glass in Berkeley, breaking windows at a Safeway store that had to be closed because of the damage. It also left a big hole in the window of Dream Fluff Donuts, a neighborhood eatery a mile from the UC Berkeley campus.

“It popped like a bomb,” doughnut store owner Alex Sieu said. “It was very scary. I was shaking like hell. I thought somebody threw a cinderblock from the street.”

Sieu, 43, who has owned the shop since 1987, said he was also at work during the deadly 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. “For me, this one was worse. This one was closer,” Sieu said. “My customers went running for the street.”

Sieu was open for business Friday but said he had to throw away 10 dozen doughnuts that had been displayed in a now-boarded-up window. “We can’t sell doughnuts with glass,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. And it’s not on the menu.”

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john.glionna@latimes.com

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