More Than 120 Small Quakes Have Hit Redlands, Calif. This Week

An active earthquake “swarm” that began February 13th is keeping parts of the Inland Empire on edge.

February 20, 2010
By Janet Zimmerman
Press Enterprise

A series of small earthquakes near Redlands continued today, but a Caltech seismologist said there is no immediate concern.

Eleven quakes, all below magnitude 3.0, struck from early morning through 6:45 p.m. They followed 22 quakes on Friday, with four of them over magnitude 3.0, according to the Caltech Web site.

"All of these smaller quakes are just telling us stress is building up underground," seismologist Egill Hauksson said by phone. "These earthquakes are sort of the creaking of the ground when the stress builds up."

The quakes are centered on the Crafton Hills fault, a small fault to the east of the San Jacinto fault, he said.

He said the recent swarm of quakes doesn't make it any more likely that there will be a major temblor on the San Jacinto, which runs down Lytle Creek, under the interchange of interstates 10 and 215, and southeast through Redlands and Hemet. The high number of quakes is typical for a horizontal movement of the earth, Hauksson said.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_webquake21.48aa617.html