Berkeley felt two earthquakes early Monday morning that hit within seconds of each other.

The first was a magnitude-3.5 quake that hit at 5:33 a.m. in El Cerrito — about four miles north of Berkeley, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was originally thought to be of magnitude 2.9 but was upgraded to a magnitude-3.5 Monday afternoon.

The second was a magnitude-4.0 quake that also hit at 5:33 a.m. and was centered about half a mile south of the first epicenter — still about four miles from Berkeley, according to the U.S.G.S.

The quakes originated on the Hayward Fault, according to Peggy Hellweg, operations manager at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory. She said the larger magnitude-4.0 earthquake caused “a tiny bit of damage” to the houses that are located directly above the epicenter.

Bay Area Rapid Transit trains were stopped after the first quake and were held for about 10 minutes to check the tracks for damage, according to Bay City News.

The U.S.G.S. also reported two more earthquakes that hit after the initial two. At 6:03 a.m. and 6:29 a.m.,  East Richmond Heights saw quakes of magnitudes 2.0 and 1.1, respectively.

In 2008, forecasts indicated that there was a 31 percent chance of an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater hitting the Hayward Fault line in the following 30 years, according to the 2008 Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast.

“The sad answer is that we don’t have enough small quakes to release enough energy to stop the big ones from happening,” she said.

The past five large quakes on the fault — which runs directly under the UC Berkeley campus — have occurred 140 years apart on average, and the last was in 1868.

View Earthquakes 3.5.12 in a larger map

Soumya Karlamangla is the city news editor.

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