Earthquake swarm puts California town on edge
BRAWLEY, Calif. (AP) - A series of small to moderate earthquakes that shattered windows and knocked trailer homes off their foundations is putting people in this small farming town east of San Diego on edge as they continue to feel jolts that scientists said could last for days.
The largest quake, registered at a magnitude 5.5, struck at 1:57 p.m. Sunday and was centered about three miles northwest of Brawley, said Robert Graves, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Another quake about an hour and a half earlier registered at magnitude 5.3.
No injuries were reported.
Several dozen earthquakes with magnitudes of at least 3.5 shook the same area near the southern end of the Salton Sea, Graves said.
By dawn Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey website showed there had been dozens of aftershocks in Imperial County, the largest a magniutude-4.9 at 9:41 p.m. Sunday. There was also a 3.0 at 12:32 a.m. Monday.
"The type of activity that we're seeing could possibly continue for several hours or even days," Graves said.
The quakes pushed 20 mobile homes at a trailer park off their foundations and rendered them inhabitable, said Maria Peinado, a spokeswoman for the Imperial County Emergency Operations Center. A red-tiled roof apparently collapsed and landed on a wooden fence.
Sporadic power outages, at one point affecting 2,500 Imperial Irrigation District customers, also prompted authorities to evacuate 49 patients from one of the county's two hospitals, Peinado said. Police also received numerous calls about gas leaks and water line breaks.
"It's not uncommon for us to have earthquakes out here, but at this frequency and at this magnitude it's fairly unusual," said George Nava, the mayor of Brawley, a town of 25,000.
"And the fact that the aftershocks keep coming are a little alarming," he said.
At the El Sol Market, food packages fell from shelves and littered the aisles.
"It felt like there was quake every 15 minutes. One after another. My kids are small and they're scared and don't want to come back inside," said Mike Patel, who manages Townhouse Inn & Suites.
A TV came crashing down and a few light fixtures broke inside the motel, Patel said.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 3.9, occurred at 10:02 a.m. The USGS said more than 300 aftershocks struck the same approximate epicenter.
Some shaking was felt along the San Diego County coast in Del Mar, some 120 miles from the epicenter, as well as in southwestern Arizona and parts of northern Mexico.
USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said earthquake swarms are characteristic of the region, known as the Brawley Seismic Zone.
"The area sees lots of events at once, with many close to the largest magnitude, rather than one main shock with several much smaller aftershocks," Jones said.
The last major swarm was in 2005, following a magnitude-5.1 quake, she said.
Sunday's quake cluster occurred in what scientists call a transition zone between the Imperial and San Andreas faults, so they weren't assigning the earthquakes to either fault, Graves said.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
8/27/2012 7:05:06 AM (GMT -7:00)
The largest quake, registered at a magnitude 5.5, struck at 1:57 p.m. Sunday and was centered about three miles northwest of Brawley, said Robert Graves, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Another quake about an hour and a half earlier registered at magnitude 5.3.
No injuries were reported.
Several dozen earthquakes with magnitudes of at least 3.5 shook the same area near the southern end of the Salton Sea, Graves said.
By dawn Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey website showed there had been dozens of aftershocks in Imperial County, the largest a magniutude-4.9 at 9:41 p.m. Sunday. There was also a 3.0 at 12:32 a.m. Monday.
"The type of activity that we're seeing could possibly continue for several hours or even days," Graves said.
The quakes pushed 20 mobile homes at a trailer park off their foundations and rendered them inhabitable, said Maria Peinado, a spokeswoman for the Imperial County Emergency Operations Center. A red-tiled roof apparently collapsed and landed on a wooden fence.
Sporadic power outages, at one point affecting 2,500 Imperial Irrigation District customers, also prompted authorities to evacuate 49 patients from one of the county's two hospitals, Peinado said. Police also received numerous calls about gas leaks and water line breaks.
"It's not uncommon for us to have earthquakes out here, but at this frequency and at this magnitude it's fairly unusual," said George Nava, the mayor of Brawley, a town of 25,000.
"And the fact that the aftershocks keep coming are a little alarming," he said.
At the El Sol Market, food packages fell from shelves and littered the aisles.
"It felt like there was quake every 15 minutes. One after another. My kids are small and they're scared and don't want to come back inside," said Mike Patel, who manages Townhouse Inn & Suites.
A TV came crashing down and a few light fixtures broke inside the motel, Patel said.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 3.9, occurred at 10:02 a.m. The USGS said more than 300 aftershocks struck the same approximate epicenter.
Some shaking was felt along the San Diego County coast in Del Mar, some 120 miles from the epicenter, as well as in southwestern Arizona and parts of northern Mexico.
USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said earthquake swarms are characteristic of the region, known as the Brawley Seismic Zone.
"The area sees lots of events at once, with many close to the largest magnitude, rather than one main shock with several much smaller aftershocks," Jones said.
The last major swarm was in 2005, following a magnitude-5.1 quake, she said.
Sunday's quake cluster occurred in what scientists call a transition zone between the Imperial and San Andreas faults, so they weren't assigning the earthquakes to either fault, Graves said.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
8/27/2012 7:05:06 AM (GMT -7:00)
"The quakes pushed 20 mobile homes at a trailer park off their foundations and rendered them inhabitable"
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Usually mobile homes are rendered uninhabitable during these kinds of natural phenomenon. Good thing that earthquake fixed those homes.
Its not a "swarm" Its a primary quake with aftershocks.
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 @Kodiak It was reported yesterday that the reason for the concern and that fact that this is news is that they are actually all quakes and not aftershocks.
Oh God here they come, fleeing from California to Washington again.
My parents live in Brawley and started this morning in the calm Pac. NW visiting my sister in Vancouver, WA. They got home to Brawley just around 4:00...to clean up the HUGE mess. They live a few blocks from the Vons in Brawley which is getting photos on many major news channels. They said they were very BLESSED with how little major damage they had compared to some of their neighbors. Â
I went through the 6.5 Quake we had in El Centro in 1979 and the 6.0 in Palm Springs that rocked us in the Imperial Valley and broke several pipes in our home. You never really get used to the sensation of earthquakes.
Glad your parents are okay...I lived in Yuma in the '79 El Centro quake..it literally broke my swimming pool in half! And the 6.0 in Palm Springs was absolutely terrifying...have been in bigger quakes in LA and Seattle, but that 6.0 in Palm Springs in the mid '80's was really something. Hope your parents continue to be safe:)
What?? Earthquakes in California??? Say it isn't so.......
Come on flush it all away, hurry up and become Arizona Bay.
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Miss u Bill.
That has to be terrifying. I'm always afraid of the "big one" that will hit with the San Andreas fault. I hope that the earthquakes stop, but they sounded like they were getting bigger. My prayers to them for sure. Scary
 @Nancybratt Probably nothing to worry about.  Think of it this way:  This swarm of quakes means that the energy and movement is able to be released without creating a bigger, single earthquake.  It's better to have a swarm of small quakes than one bigger one.  When these quakes stop, that's when the question comes up whether the fault is done moving for now, or if it got stuck.  If it got stuck, hopefully it doesn't get unstuck too violently.
 That is NOT true, there is NO correlation between a bunch of small clustered quakes releasing pent up energy nor is there any connection that allows pent up energy to be released from a swarm of small quakes.  Please do some research before spewing information that is incorrect. ASK ANY seismologist about this and they will tell you the same thing @aol8mydog
@aol8mydog @BrodyRodyPartDeux Actually, the distance the plates moved don't really have any bearing. If they moved, and came up against another plate and are now stuck, the pressure will continue to build until something gives. That is the danger. When they finally slip, depending on the pressure that has built, that's when you could have a really big earthquake.Â
 @BrodyRodyPartDeux If you're going to try to prove me wrong, list some links to your research.  Otherwise, until the "Big One" actually hits, I'm not considering myself wrong.  Thanks for reading anyway.
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The point is, two plates moved and that released energy in relatively small amounts. Â The distance the plates traveled during the swarm of quakes is now that much less movement they have to do now.
@BrodyRodyPartDeux @aol8mydog Nancybratt...The few weeks leading up to the big Japan quake had many quakes in the 5-6 magnitude range...then the big one hit. Hopefully aol8mydog is right and energy is being released and a larger quake isn't on the horizon. I'm with you...always wondering when the "big one" is going to hit....rattles your nerves a bit when something like this happens, even if it did happen in California and they are used to it!