A cluster of earthquakes shook through El Centro in Imperial County on Monday, January 12, 2024 — which were also felt through certain parts of San Diego and Mexico.
It was reported by the Southern California Earthquake Data Center that the mainshock took place at 12:36 a.m. and was then followed by a magnitude 4.5 aftershock along with a series of smaller aftershocks. This totaled to over two dozen aftershocks through 3:30 p.m. No injuries have been reported.
With these series of quakes, and even a magnitude 4.6 earthquake taking place in Los Angeles on Friday, February 9, 2024 — many Californians are wondering if these are signs of the “big one.” Well, professor and geologist Bryan Castillo (M.S.) took to TikTok to answer people’s concerns.
“Believe it or not, a cluster of earthquakes in this region are very, very common… and if you look at the historical records of El Centro and the Brawley seismic region, you could see they get a lot of earthquakes all the time,” said Castillo in the TikTok video. “So in the sequence of earthquakes, when you get a pretty strong earthquake like this magnitude 4.8, you’re going to get a lot of other earthquakes that happen near that vicinity as well. We call them aftershocks of that main event or just a seismic swarm.”
According to him, we can rest assured that these earthquakes are quite normal for the area. However, this is indeed an important reminder that we do live in “Earthquake Country” and we should take earthquake safety and preparation seriously.