Magnitude 3.8 earthquake centered near Oakland Zoo shakes Bay Area, felt as far Sacramento

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake centered near the Oakland Zoo and Bishop O'Dowd High School shook parts of the Bay Area on Thursday morning, followed by two aftershocks, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

KGO

ByGloria Rodríguez, Tara Campbell KGO logo

Friday, August 14, 2026

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) -- A magnitude 3.8 earthquake centered near the Oakland Zoo and Bishop O'Dowd High School shook parts of the Bay Area on Thursday morning, followed by two aftershocks, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earthquake at 8:30 a.m. was initially measured at magnitude 4.1 before being downgraded to 3.8. Two aftershocks, magnitudes 3.0 and 2.8, hit at 9:07 a.m. in the same area.

The quake rattled much of the Bay Area, startling residents, visitors and workers from Oakland to Union City.

According to USGS, it was felt by thousands of people across the region. Reports came from as far north as Santa Rosa and Sacramento and as far south as Santa Cruz.

The epicenter was near the Oakland Zoo, where staff reported no damage but said the quake was felt on the grounds.

Video recorded at the zoo captured animals reacting to the shaking. Staff said the sounds heard in the recording were chimps and parrots vocalizing during the earthquake.

"Vocalizing" is when animals communicate messages such as warnings through sound. The zoo is located directly on the Hayward Fault. Oakland Zoo CEO Nik Dehejia said animals can feel low-frequency vibrations in ways humans do not.

Following the earthquake, zoo staff conducted safety inspections, including checks of the facility's gondola system.

"Number one, first thing is just making sure our staff, are safe," Dehejia said. "You know, this happened before we opened, so life safety is critical. Then we go on and look at all of our facilities, our buildings. Our security has already swept all of our buildings to make sure there isn't any damage."

Residents near the epicenter also described feeling the shaking.

"I was at my home just in Sheffield village over here. and we felt like a pretty significant rattling. My dog was asleep on the couch, and she actually, like, jumped across the room onto my lap and climbed onto my lap and the easy chair," said Ania McMahon.

Caitlin Fitzpatrick, who is visiting from East Coast, said the shaking interrupted preparations for an early morning meeting.

"I was just getting ready for a work meeting because I'm on East Coast time, so I had an early meeting, and just everything started shaking," she said.

For Erin Graupe and her family, who are visiting from Texas, it was an unforgettable wake-up call.

"Hell yeah! My first earthquake," Graupe said.

The family was getting ready to visit the Oakland Zoo when the shaking hit their Union City hotel.

"We were just getting dressed to come out to the zoo and everything shook for a second," Graupe said. "It kind of felt like someone was banging on the door."

Her daughter, Nichole Graupe, was in the bathroom when the quake struck.

"I could feel it shaking, and I was like, 'Whoa, what happened?'" she said. "My daughter was like, 'Oh my God, it's shaking'."

Closer to the epicenter, Oakland residents Dwight McDowell and his nephew, Michael Frazier, said the earthquake briefly interrupted their landscaping work.

"My wife was in the kitchen and said, 'Did you feel that?' and I said, 'Yes, I felt it,'" McDowell said.

"We're out working landscaping, doing some yard work, and my uncle was like, 'Did you feel it?'" Frazier said. "And I was like, 'Yeah, I felt it. It's an earthquake.'"

Devaun Turner, who lives in Oakland, said the shaking initially caught him off guard.

"At first I didn't know it was real," Turner said. "I started looking at the walls and stuff, thinking, 'I hope nothing falls.' It was really crazy, a lot of shaking."

USGS scientist Robert de Groot said the earthquake's relatively shallow depth, about three miles underground, amplified the shaking people experienced.

"A lot of people felt it," de Groot said. "One of the reasons people felt a jolt or more shaking than you would expect from an earthquake of this size is that it was really shallow. That typically translates into higher perceived shaking, so things may rattle or shake a bit more."

De Groot said whether someone feels an earthquake depends on several factors, including where they are and what they're doing at the time.

"If you happen to be sitting still in a chair at a desk, in a high-rise, maybe you're in bed, or if there isn't a lot of ambient noise, you're more likely to notice it," he said. "There are a lot of factors that go into what people feel during an earthquake."

No injuries or major damage were immediately reported.

MAP: Significant San Francisco Bay Area fault lines and strong earthquakes
Zoom in on the map below and compare where you live to the significant faults and where strong earthquakes have struck in the Bay Area.

Stay with ABC7 News for the latest details on this developing story.

RELATED STORIES & VIDEOS: