Quake damages East Bay businesses

By Ari Barak

July 20, 2007

Businesses in Berkeley and Montclair were damaged and had to delay opening after this morning's earthquake centered east of Oakland.

The early morning tremors rattled a Safeway on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, smashing two front windows, according to company spokeswoman Esperanza Greenwood.

"The glass shattered and so we closed the store...we don't want people cutting themselves," Greenwood said.

A fire department inspection revealed no structural damage to the store, Greenwood said, and she expected it would reopen later today.

Berkeley police dispatcher Melissa Chappell said police had also received reports of broken windows at other shops on College Avenue.

"We've (primarily) just been getting calls about the helicopters" circling overhead, Chappell said.

An Albertsons on Mountain Boulevard in Montclair also had to delay opening after the quake shook items off the shelves, according to company spokeswoman Alicia Rockwell.

"There was a lot of product that came down from the shelves and extensive cleanup that we had to do," Rockwell said.

A Montclair restaurant also is cleaning up this morning. A bottle of wine and several other items fell off the shelves at Montclair Egg Shop, located at 6126 Medau Place, but nothing was seriously damaged, said manager Miguel Barron.

Piedmont and Oakland police had no reports of damage or injuries.

The earthquake, with an epicenter 2 miles east, north east of Oakland shook the entire region for about 15 seconds, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Preliminary reports show that the 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:42 a.m. The earthquake was felt throughout the East Bay and in San Francisco.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

####