2007 Alum Rock earthquake 2007 Alum Rock earthquake The 2007 Alum Rock earthquake occurred on in Alum Rock Park in San Jose, California. It measured 5.6 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI ("Strong"). The event was then the largest in the San Francisco Bay Area since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale, but was later surpassed by the 2014 South Napa earthquake. Ground shaking from the Alum Rock quake reached San Francisco and Oakland and other points further north. Sixty thousand felt reports existed far beyond Santa Rosa, as far
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was built on was filled marshland, and half was somewhat more stable alluvium. Because of new highway structure design guidelines—the requirement of ductile construction elements—instituted following the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, a limited degree of earthquake reinforcement was retrofitted to the Cypress Viaduct in 1977. The added elements were longitudinal restraints at transverse expansion joints in the box girder spans, but no studies were made of possible failure modes specific to the Cypress Viaduct. When the earthquake hit, the shaking was amplified on the former marshland, and soil liquefaction occurred. During the earthquake, the freeway buckled and twisted before the