Lake Tahoe area rattled by morning quakes

TRUCKEE, Calif. - Thousands of people were rudely awakened wh

en a series of moderate earthquakes and aftershocks jolted this resort Sierra town early Saturday morning.

No major damage or injuries were reported, but the largest quake measuring preliminary magnitude 4.8 was felt over a wide area near Lake Tahoe, including Reno, Nev., and South Lake Tahoe.

The 7:34 a.m. quake, centered 14 miles northwest of Truckee, was followed over the next hour by four smaller temblors, including one measuring 3.2.

The California Highway Patrol reported the quakes caused a bridge to collapse over Green Horn Creek near Colfax.

''It's fortunate that the quakes were centered near the (sparsely populated) Jackson Meadows area and away from populated areas,'' said Nevada County sheriff's Sgt. Ron Perea. ''I'm only aware of one or two homes near Jackson Meadows.''

It was business as usual in downtown Truckee afterward as tourists and residents swapped stories about the quakes. Most were in bed when the 4.8 quake hit.

''It was a good quick jolt and I could hear the timber in the house creak,'' Carl Brawley of Donner Lake said while eating breakfast at the Squeeze Inn. ''If you live in California, you have to learn to surf the earth.''

''It was like a wrestling match was going on in our home,'' added Mark Lundbeck of Truckee. ''You could feel everything sliding around. It was kind of fun.''

At Tourist Liquor down the street, clerk Aaron Johnson was surprised not to find a single bottle on the floor when he arrived at work. The 4.8 quake woke him out of a sound sleep.

''I thought maybe a car hit the cabin next to me,'' he said.''It was like my bed was doing a circular motion. It hit real quick and then it was over.''

Perea said he and other officers felt the strongest quake during their morning briefing.

''We felt a little small jolt and then a big one,'' he said. ''We thought the phones would start ringing and sure enough they did.''

The sheriff's department received about 100 calls, most from residents wondering if a quake had just struck.

''We sent deputies out to different areas to see if there were any problems, but there were none,'' Perea said. ''It's just another day in paradise.

''The houses up here are built to handle a pretty good snow load. They'll take more jolting than houses in the (San Francisco) Bay area.''

No power outages or disruptions in telephone service were reported.

The 4.8 quake also woke up people in Reno, 30 miles to the east of Truckee, and in South Lake Tahoe, 35 miles to the south of Truckee.

Tourist Mary Zovich said the quakes were nothing compared with the January 1994 Northridge earthquake in Southern California, which she survived. She now lives in Eugene, Ore.

''I lost all my glassware in the Northridge quake,'' she said while window-shopping in downtown Truckee. ''This one shook sideways and all I felt was a little sway.''

''All I know is the earthquakes keep following me and I can't get away from them,'' added Brawley, who moved to the Sierra after the October 1989 Loma Prieta quake in Northern California.