Magnitude 4.0 earthquake jolts San Francisco Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The San Francisco Bay Area was rattled by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake on Monday morning, the United States Geological Survey reported, although there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries. The earthquake, near Piedmont some 13 miles east of San Francisco, struck around 7 a.m. local time, according to the USGS. The quake produced several seconds of moderate shaking in neighboring Oakland, according to a Reuters witness. The Oakland Police Department said on its Twitter account that calls had flooded in after the tremor, but no one was reported to have been hurt or injured. Officials in nearby Berkeley also said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Still, the shaking prompted a widespread reaction around the Bay Area. #Earthquake was trending on Twitter with many people tweeting out reactions, and local television news anchors jumped at the shaking while broadcasting live. California, which sits along a series of seismic faults, is forecast to experience a much more powerful earthquake at some point, but scientists do not know when it might come or how strong it might measure. (Reporting by Jim Christie and Curtis Skinner in Oakland and Lisa Lambert in Washington; Editing by Susan Heavey)