Update 10/1/10 6pm Earthquake swarm rattles rural southeastern California
WESTMORLAND, Calif. (AP) — An earthquake swarm continued Thursday in a rural area of southeastern California with a history of such seismic activity.
The hundreds of earthquakes included a magnitude-4.9 tremor Wednesday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Notable past seismic activity in the region includes a 1981 swarm that included a magnitude 5.8 quake and a 2012 swarm that produced a magnitude 5.4 quake, the USGS said in a statement.
Past swarms have remained active for up to 20 days, but the average is about a week, the USGS said.
The USGS said the most likely scenario for the current swarm is that the rate of earthquakes will decrease over about a week’s time. A large earthquake is a much less likely scenario, the agency said.
The state on Thursday coincidentally launched a “Don’t Get Caught Off Guard” campaign to raise awareness of California’s earthquake warning system which detects the start of a quake and sends alerts so that people can protect themselves before shaking arrives.
The annual Great California ShakeOut, in which millions of people practice the “drop, cover, hold on” response to earthquakes, is scheduled for Oct. 15.
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Update 10:13 10/1/20 NOW! Could trigger a big one on the Faultline!
Update 10:13 10/1/20
10-01-20 BREAKING NEWS: M6.0-6.5 Quakes South Pacific
8:15 a.m.
Two large magnitude quakes have struck overnight in the South Pacific. A M6.5 quake struck off coast, northeast of Tonga and a M6.0 quake struck off coast Papua New Guinea, near the island of New Britain. Both quakes were forecasted by name and magnitude BEFORE they struck.
Quake Map Tonga: https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=907181#map
Quake Map Papua New Guinea: https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=907388#map
UPDATE: The southern California swarm continued throughout the night and is still going strong this morning.
The Watchman
UPDATE 12:36 AM 10/1/20
9-30-20 Quake News & Updates
10:00 p.m.
The southern California earthquake swarm that began less than four hours ago, has now reached over 100 quakes, with a top magnitude so far of M5.0. I would expect this swarm to continue for several days to perhaps 2-3 weeks, based on past precedents of swarms in this area.
Of the 16 largest quakes to strike the world the past three days, I successfully named all the target regions with 100% accuracy, including 100% accuracy on forecast magnitudes and time frames.
For the current issue of the Quake News & Updates.
The Watchman
spacer
4K Live Earthquake Watch..Global Earthquake updates..
spacer
spacer
BREAKING NEWS: Big Southern California Swarm
8: 00 p.m. 9/30/20
A new swarm of earthquakes has broken out in southern California, south of Salton Sea, northwest of Brawley, along the southern end of the San Andreas fault. The swarm started about 90 minutes ago and has been pounding steadily with more than 40 quakes so far, reaching a high of M4.9. We will monitor this swarm carefully over the next 24-48 hours to see if it continues to build or begins to fade. So far, the magnitudes have been rising. It bears watching closely!
If you live in SoCal, you should be checking your gear and supplies, including flashlight batteries. Stay tuned. I will keep you informed if anything goes down.
Quake Map: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci39641528/map
spacer
spacer
Swarm of small earthquakes strikes Salton Sea area
A swarm of small earthquakes struck a region of Imperial County south of the Salton Sea on Wednesday.
The biggest of the temblors measured magnitude 4.9 and struck after 5 p.m. near the town of Westmoreland.
There were other, smaller quakes, including at least 10 that measured greater than magnitude 3.0.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quakes were largely felt in relatively remote regions of Imperial and Riverside counties.
Seismologist Lucy Jones said on Twitter that the epicenter was probably “too far from the San Andreas [fault] to change the probability of a quake on it.” The San Andreas is capable of producing a catastrophic quake known as the Big One.
She noted that quake swarms are relatively common in the Imperial County area and that Westmoreland saw a 5.8 quake in 1981.
spacer