Residents of northern California were startled by a string of minor earthquakes on Tuesday morning.
At 6:01 a.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 3.5 magnitude earthquake near Pacifica, which was followed by two 2.6 magnitude aftershocks at 6:03 and 6:04 a.m. local time.
No complaints of damage or injuries were made, per CBS San Francisco. The earthquakes were felt by people from Santa Cruz to San Francisco.
According to CBS San Francisco, the tremors occur as the Bay Area is experiencing strong winds and torrential rain. In recent weeks, California has also experienced both intense downpours and snowfall.
The fact that California is located in a seismic zone that is comparable to those in Turkey and Syria raises concerns, even though the quakes’ magnitude wasn’t as great. California is located on the San Andreas Fault, while the earthquake struck the East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. People started to speculate if California would experience the next “big one” after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Similar patterns can be seen in the two faults: one long, main fault and several shorter, secondary ones.
California earthquake: What is the San Andreas Fault?
California is spanned by the 800-mile-long San Andreas fault from north to south. The Turkish fault, a minor fault line that is only about half as long as the San Andreas, nevertheless managed to wreak such enormous destruction. This makes experts fearful that California could experience a comparable earthquake on a secondary fault line.
Given that the southern San Andreas is one of the regions that is ripe for an earthquake of greater than magnitude 7.5, experts say it appears to be a danger zone. Areas like San Bernardino, Palm Springs, and Imperial County would suffer severe devastation in that case. According to geological surveys, Los Angeles has a 30% possibility of experiencing a 7.5-magnitude earthquake within the next 30 years. Similarly, for the San Francisco Bay Area, there is a 20 percent chance of the same happening.
California has to date witnessed two “big ones”
Two “big ones” have so far occurred in California: the first in 1857, which hit the northern third of the San Andreas, and the second in 1906, which hit the center third. Despite being under 8.0 in magnitude, the two quakes managed to significantly damage both property and lives.
According to experts, the term “big one” does not always refer to earthquakes with magnitudes right and above. Both the 1989 earthquake in the San Francisco area and the 1994 earthquake in Northridge were under seven but still did a lot of harm.