Earthquake Swarm Raises Concern for Southern California Residents

Posted July 2, 2019, under Blog

A recent earthquake swarm has residents of one southern California city very worried.

In the Fontana area, there have been more than 700 recent earthquakes since May 25th, with three of the temblors ranging in a 3 magnitude or greater.

“People ought to be concerned,” Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson told the L.A. Times. “This is probably the most prolific swarm in that area of the Fontana seismic zone that we’ve seen in the past three decades.”

Hauksson likewise revealed that the repeated seismic activity in the area does increase the chances of a larger earthquake occurring.

“That would suggest it’s going to continue for — I don’t know — at least several weeks,” Hauksson continued. “We’re watching what’s happening and trying to track that activity.”

While the seismic activity in the region has since subsided, Hauksson warned that residents of the area should remain on high alert and stock their homes with survival necessities like food and water, and secure large furnishings to their walls.

As a California resident, it’s especially important to take extra precaution when it comes to earthquake-proofing your home. This means removing heavy objects around beds, securing bookshelves and TVs to walls, installing safety latches on kitchen cabinets, etc.

In addition to taking safety precautions inside the home, it’s essential that if your house was built before 1979 that you have the property evaluated by a structural engineer to determine if the structure needs seismic retrofits like additional bracing and bolting to secure the house to its foundation.

Seismic retrofitting is essential for protecting your property from severe earthquake damage and destruction, as the updated reinforcements help keep the home secured to its foundation in the midst of the side-to-side and back-and-forth shaking of a large earthquake.

Because of the shallowness of the recent earthquake swarm in Fontana, residents throughout the region have felt even the smaller magnitude quakes.

In California, earthquake swarms occurring near major fault lines are especially worrisome as these swarms can trigger the fault lines to unleash a major earthquake.

Julian De La Torre is an expert in Los Angeles foundation inspection, foundation contractors, earthquake retrofitting, and foundation repair. Julian’s company, Julian Construction, has inspected over 15,000 structures, working with engineering firms and local departments of building & safety. The company has done more foundation repair and earthquake retrofitting in Los Angeles than any other company in the area over the last five years.

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