Scientists have warned us that California is way overdue for a major earthquake and that “the Big One” could literally strike at any time.
That is why I was so alarmed when the Los Angeles Times reported that “two sets of earthquake swarms” had just hit the state. After seeing that story, I went over to the Southern California Earthquake Data Center to check how many earthquakes have shaken the region during the past week.
As I write this article, the total number of earthquakes in California and Nevada in the last seven days is sitting at a grand total of 1,010. To me, whenever that number goes above 1,000 we are officially in the danger zone. Hopefully there will not be a very large earthquake in California any time soon, but when there is this much shaking going on we should all be on alert.
The biggest quake that has hit the region this week is one that shook Imperial County very early on Monday.
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake shook California’s Imperial County near the Salton Sea Monday morning.
The quake struck 18 miles south of Salton City and four miles southeast of Ocotillo Wells at 5:17 a.m., according the U.S. Geological Survey.
Residents as far away as Chula Vista, Mission Viejo, Highland and Indio reported feeling the quake, the USGS reported.
Prior to that quake, there were two “earthquake swarms” that deeply alarmed scientists.
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One of those earthquake swarms happened over the weekend and it was centered along the California-Mexico border.
Another earthquake swarm has been rumbling along the California-Mexico border.
More than two dozen quakes greater than magnitude 2.5 have occurred since just after midnight Saturday, with epicenters about 175 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles and 100 miles northeast of San Diego, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
They have occurred largely along farmland between the towns of Brawley and Imperial in Imperial County. The largest quake was a magnitude 3.9 that struck at 4:05 p.m. Saturday, bringing light shaking to the Imperial Valley as well as south of the border and rattling Mexicali.
Prior to that, a different earthquake swarm rattled an area “about 18 miles southeast of Mexicali in Baja California.”
A separate swarm of earthquakes occurred a week ago, about 40 miles southeast of the most recent quake activity. Last week’s swarm occurred about 18 miles southeast of Mexicali in Baja California, with the largest a magnitude 4.2 that was felt as far away as El Centro in California and Yuma, Ariz.
Hopefully all of this recent shaking will turn out to be nothing. But it is just a matter of time before “the Big One” comes along. And when it finally arrives, authorities are projecting that it could cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.
If the Big One did strike, ‘it would be a matter of a few tens of seconds before the shaking from a San Andreas event that ruptures the segments closest to Los Angeles reach our urban areas,’ Jonathan Stewart with the University of California, Los Angeles told DailyMail.com.
According to the California Earthquake Authority, the natural disaster would cause destruction in a 100-mile radius of the fault line, which starts near Eureka and ends below Palm Springs, killing at least 1,800 people, crumble millions of homes and cause more than $290 billion in damages.
An earthquake of the size that they are talking about could literally take place at any time. But I am expecting an even larger catastrophe to hit the state, eventually.
Personally, I am among those that are anticipating that someday an apocalyptic earthquake will literally alter the geography of the California coastline on a permanent basis.
Speaking of apocalyptic threats, on the other side of the world it appears that an absolutely massive super volcano could be waking up.
On Monday, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck the Campi Flegrei super volcano in Italy. This was the largest earthquake to hit that region in 40 years.
A 4.4 magnitude earthquake struck Italy’s Campi Flegrei super volcano Monday evening, causing mild damage in the town of Pozzuoli, the epicenter, and as far away as the city of Naples, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, according to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).
Cracks in walls and falling cornices were reported, Italy’s Fire Brigade spokesman confirmed to CNN.
The 4.4 earthquake at a depth of 3 kilometers is the strongest earthquake to hit the highly seismic area in the past 40 years, according to INGV data. The quake is part of an ongoing “seismic storm” that has seen more than a dozen events over 2.0 magnitude in the past 48 hours.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t just an isolated incident. According to one expert, the ground in that particular area has been steadily rising at a rate of two centimeters per month.
Seismic activity on Campi Flegrei, which is home to at least 360,000 people across seven of the most at-risk inhabited hubs, has intensified in the past two years, with the frequency and strength of the quakes increasing as the caldera, the basin at the top of the volcano, weakens and pressure beneath it builds. This causes the ground to rise and the volcano’s crust to stretch.
“The earth is continuing to rise at a rate of two centimeters a month, a higher rate than last year, and unfortunately it seems to be continuing at this rate,” Mauro Di Vito, the director of the Vesuvius Observatory for Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), told reporters. “We expect similar earthquakes … I cannot make predictions but we can expect the swarm to continue.”
Hopefully an eruption is not imminent because almost half a million people live nearby.
The Campi Flegrei, or Phlegraean Fields, is a vast volcanic area covering 150 square kilometers. Despite its last eruption in 1538, its lively magmatic activity classifies it as a supervolcano, posing a threat to nearly half a million residents.
While the community has grown accustomed to frequent but minor seismic activity, the intensity of Monday night’s tremors brought a renewed sense of fear.
The region experienced 450 smaller earthquakes in the past month, but the magnitude and persistence of this event were unprecedented.
All over the world, seismic activity is rising to very alarming levels. But most people won’t care until a major disaster affects them personally.
Unfortunately, I am entirely convinced that we are entering a time when major natural disasters of absolutely epic proportions will just keep hitting our planet one after another.
Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
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