Had there been a real 5.9 earthquake Thursday morning 15 miles east of Lake Tahoe in rural Nevada, Bay Area residents might have felt some mild shaking, particularly people living on softer soils, such as areas in the East Bay near the Delta, Rowe said.

A handful of small earthquakes hit south of San Ramon on Monday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Follow Newsweek for live coverage after a large earthquake strikes off the coast of Japan.