Earthquake rocks San Francisco Bay Area but no major damage reported

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake's epicenter was 2 miles from Berkeley, California (USGS)

Residents across the San Francisco Bay Area were shaken out of their beds early Thursday after a magnitude 4.4 earthquake rattled the area, but caused no major damage.

The quake struck around 2:39 a.m. about two miles east from Berkeley, just across the bay from San Francisco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the USGS told KTVU the quake was eight miles deep which is fairly shallow and was widely felt about 100 miles beyond the epicenter. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake is a common size for the area, according to Baldwin.

The magnitude was revised after it was initially reported as magnitude 4.5.

Social media posts showed people were awakened some 40 miles to the north and south, but there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

"Felt like a big truck drove into the building or something blew up downstairs. It just rocked the room and bed like two or three times quickly with a decently loud rumble in North Berkeley," Dale Fest wrote on the San Francisco Chronicle's Facebook page.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system said it had checked tracks for damage and found no problems. Early delays in train service were cleared up by 5:30 a.m., the agency said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.