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Earthquake Shakes East Bay on Saturday Evening, But So Far No Rapture

By Saul Sugarman (BCN) and Planet
Sunday May 22, 2011 - 08:54:00 PM

A 3.6-magnitude earthquake shook Contra Costa and Alameda Counties this evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. 

The quake struck about 2 miles south of Hercules just after 7 p.m. and had a 6-mile depth, according to the USGS. 

A witness in Alameda felt her apartment building shake just after the quake began. 

"I thought it was the Rapture," she said. 

Harold Camping, founder of the Oakland-based Family Radio network, predicted earlier this year that the Rapture -- the ascension of millions of earth dwellers into heaven marked by a massive earthquake -- would take place today. 

The First Church of the Last Laugh, led by San Francisco Mime Troupe actor and Oakland resident Ed Holmes, conducted a countdown to 6 p.m., the time predicted for the Rapture to take place, complete with clusters of balloons lifting inflated people, at the headquarters of Family Radio on Hegenberger Road. Church members were not there. Nothing special happened at 6, and Holmes was not available for comment when the earthquake struck at 7. 

The quake was 8 miles north of Berkeley and 9 miles south of Vallejo.