California quakes rattle some nerves

LOS ANGELES – After four significant earthquakes in less than a week, Californians are getting jittery, with some stocking up on water, food, cash, even insurance.

But seismologists say clusters of quakes don’t necessarily mean the Big One is coming. After several years of relative seismic calm, the recent quakes are a not-so-gentle reminder that the ground here is never as solid as it seems.

The shaking began Sunday with a magnitude-5.2 temblor about 90 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It was followed by a magnitude-7.2 quake Tuesday night under the Pacific Ocean off Eureka along the northern coast – which prompted a tsunami warning.

Thursday brought two quakes that were 10 hours and about 700 miles apart: one of magnitude 4.9 in San Bernardino County in the south and a 6.6 quake off the northern coast.

This week’s shaking brought murmurs of the “Big One” – a quake that moves mountains and levels cities.

Some studies suggest the San Andreas fault, which leveled much of San Francisco in 1906 and extends more than 800 miles through California, may be about to release energy.

Earthquakes aren’t very predictable, and a few jolts don’t necessarily mean a huge quake is imminent.

“We don’t know whether the ‘Big One’ is coming,” said Tom Jordan of the Southern California Earthquake Center.

The last major rupture on the fault’s southern portion was 1857.

The flurry of quakes typically leads homeowners to buy earthquake insurance, which only about 14 percent of homeowners currently have.