Powerful Earthquake Swarm In Southern California / Mexico Border – New Strong Earthquake At 3 Minutes Before The Hour

(Before It's News)

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Earthquake overview : 3 M5.3 earthquakes in only 3 minutes time ! + a big number of foreshocks and aftershocks. Spothern California and Northern Mexico have been shaken for many hours.
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Keep this page open to read more details when they become available
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Update 21:10 UTC
- There are scattered power outages in the Brawley area and out at Naval Air Facility El Centro, said Marion Champion, spokeswoman for the Imperial Irrigation District. More than 1,000 customers were out of power temporarily. Crews are out checking for damage.
- Pioneers Memorial Hospital has been evacuated, and patient have been moved to the wound care center.  Though there has not been reports of major damage at the hospital, patients had asked to be evacuated because they were scared. Glass had been broken inside the hospital.
(messages courtesy Imperial Valley press)

Important Update 21:03 UTC
A new strong M5.4 earthquake (preliminary value) had happened a few minutes ago
- The National Weather Service reports a preliminary Magnitude of M5.6!
- Epicenter a few km NNW of Brawley

Update 20:53 UTC :
- Residents in the San Diego area reported feeling the quake in places including downtown San Diego, Mission Valley, Santee and Chula Vista.
- Authorities in San Diego reported NO damage or injuries
- The Brawley seismic zone is very well known by seismologists for earthquake swarms. More M3 to M5 earthquakes can be expected, but it is unlikely that stronger earthquakes will appear. Of course stronger are possible but based on historic facts would be very abnormal.

Update 20:40 UTC :
- As you can see on the picture below, Brawley is a farming community with a patchwork of farming grounds. This kind of area can be very vulnerable for earthquake waves.
- SSN, the Mexican seismological agency has reported a M5.7 for the strongest quake (vs 5.3 USGS) and M5.2 vs M4.9 for the second quake.

Update 20:36 UTC :
USGS has updated the calculation of the intensity and reports now that 28000 people will probably have experienced a strong shaking (MMI VI).

Update 20:27 UTC :
- Not less than 19 earthquakes did struck in Southern California before the first M4.6 earthquake. It all started at 15:33 UTC
- When the first powerful M4.6 earthquake happened, this quake was followed by 7 earthquakes in only 13 minutes. The last 2 of this range measured M5.3 and M4.9
- Since the mainshock and in less than an hour, the area was struck by 22 aftershocks ranging from 2.5 until 4.3. This is only the total of M2.5 or greater as the real number will be far higher.

Update 20:19 UTC : The area is really rattled by aftershocks, most of them in the M3.0 to M3.9 range
- The earthquakes was felt as a very weak shaking as far as the Greater Los Angeles area in the North and as far as Ensenada to the south.
- Our Mexican correspondent reports that in Mexicali live has returned to normal and no damage has been reported or noticed.
- The strongest reported shaking so far was MMI V (moderate shaking), si after all this earthquake looks to be luckily harmless.

Update 19:59 UTC : The list of strongest quakes has been reduced by USGS to the following quakes : 4.6, 4.7, 5.3, 4.9, 4.5. Most of these quakes were very well felt in a north-south range Brawley to Mexicali.
The area is very well known by people following earthquakes and is a little north from the epicenter of the massive earthquake from a couple of years ago.
- The hospital in Mexicali has been partly evacuated and personnel is inspecting the building for eventual damage.
- Theoretical calculations from USGS are stating that 19000 people will have experienced a MMI VI strong shaking.
- The epicenter of the strongest shock is just north-west of Brawley
- The area has a lot of fault zones

Shaking map courtesy USGS

Update : Up to now, the strongest earthquakes had values of 4.6, 4.7, 5.3, 5.3, 5.3; 4.5 – thats really a lot of earthquakes in a short time. USGS has a hard time to follow the many strong earthquakes as they have to be monitored by seismologists

Update : The hospital in Mexicali is currently being evacuated

Since 15:33 UTC this afternoon a big number of earthquakes started in Southern California
The most powerful ones (4 in total) started at 19:20 UTC

The epicenter of these earthquakes are south of the Salton Sea and a north of Calexico / Mexicali.
We will start up an in-depth article soon as this earthquake needs more attention than a normal one

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : M5.3 + many more
UTC Time : Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 19:32:59 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Sunday, August 26, 2012 at 12:32:59 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 4.6 km
Geo-location(s) :
9 km (5 miles) E (83°) from Brawley, CA
17 km (10 miles) SSE (158°) from Calipatria, CA

Links to important maps
USGS Did You Feel It Map
Google satellite map showing the epicenter and the surrounding area
Historic earthquakes map
Seismic hazard map
Shaking map
Scientific parameters
Human impact map

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MMI II (Very weak shaking)	? People : Felt by persons at rest, on upper floors or favorably placed.
MMI III (Weak shaking)	? People : Felt indoors; hanging objects may swing, vibration similar to passing of light trucks, duration may be estimated, may not be recognized as an earthquake.
MMI IV (Light shaking)	? People : Generally noticed indoors but not outside. Light sleepers may be awakened. Vibration may be likened to the passing of heavy traffic, or to the jolt of a heavy object falling or striking the building. Fittings : Doors and windows rattle. Glassware and crockery rattle. Liquids in open vessels may be slightly disturbed. Standing motorcars may rock. Structures : Walls and frames of buildings, and partitions and suspended ceilings in commercial buildings, may be heard to creak.
MMI V (Moderate shaking)	? People : Generally felt outside, and by almost everyone indoors. Most sleepers awakened. A few people alarmed. Fittings : Small unstable objects are displaced or upset. Some glassware and crockery may be broken. Hanging pictures knock against the wall. Open doors may swing. Cupboard doors secured by magnetic catches may open. Pendulum clocks stop, start, or change rate. Structures : Some large display windows cracked. A few earthenware toilet fixtures cracked.
MMI VI (Strong shaking)	? People Felt by all. People and animals alarmed. Many run outside. Difficulty experienced in walking steadily. Fittings : Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall from walls. Some furniture moved on smooth floors, some unsecured free-standing fireplaces moved. Glassware and crockery broken. Very unstable furniture overturned. Small church and school bells ring. Appliances move on bench or table tops. Filing cabinets or "easy glide" drawers may open (or shut). Structures : Slight damage to buildings with low standard. Some stucco or cement plaster falls. Large display windows broken. Damage to a few weak domestic chimneys, some may fall. Environment : Trees and bushes shake, or are heard to rustle. Loose material may be dislodged from sloping ground, e.g. existing slides, talus slopes, shingle slides.
MMI VII (Very strong shaking)	? People General alarm. Difficulty experienced in standing. Noticed by motorcar drivers who may stop. Fittings : Large bells ring. Furniture moves on smooth floors, may move on carpeted floors. Substantial damage to fragile contents of buildings. Structures : Unreinforced stone and brick walls cracked. Low standard buildings cracked with some minor masonry falls. A few instances of damage to buildings of ordinary workmanship. Unbraced parapets, unbraced brick gables, and architectural ornaments fall. Roofing tiles, especially ridge tiles may be dislodged. Many unreinforced domestic chimneys damaged, often falling from roof-line. Water tanks Type I burst. A few instances of damage to brick veneers and plaster or cement-based linings. Unrestrained water cylinders (hot-water cylinders) may move and leak. Some common windows cracked. Suspended ceilings damaged. Environment : Water made turbid by stirred up mud. Small slides such as falls of sand and gravel banks, and small rock-falls from steep slopes and cuttings. Instances of settlement of unconsolidated or wet, or weak soils. Some fine cracks appear in sloping ground. A few instances of liquefaction (i.e. small water and sand ejections).
MMI VIII (Severe shaking)	? People Alarm may approach panic. Steering of motorcars greatly affected. Structures : Low standard buildings heavily damaged, some collapse. ordinary workmanship buildings damaged, some with partial collapse. Reinforced masonry or concrete buildings damaged in some cases. A few instances of damage to buildings and bridges designed and built to resist earthquakes. Monuments and pre-1976 elevated tanks and factory stacks twisted or brought down. Some pre-1965 infill masonry panels damaged. A few post-1980 brick veneers damaged. Decayed timber piles of houses damaged. Houses not secured to foundations may move. Most unreinforced domestic chimneys damaged, some below roof-line, many brought down. Environment : Cracks appear on steep slopes and in wet ground. Small to moderate slides in roadside cuttings and unsupported excavations. Small water and sand ejections and localized lateral spreading adjacent to streams, canals, lakes, etc.
MMI IX (Violent shaking)	? Structures Many low standard buildings destroyed. Ordinary workmanship buildings heavily damaged, some collapse. Reinforced masonry or concrete buildings damaged, some with partial collapse. Buildings and bridges designed and built to resist earthquakes damaged in some cases, some with flexible frames seriously damaged. Damage or permanent distortion to some buildings and bridges, designed and built to normal use standards. Houses not secured to foundations shifted off. Brick veneers fall and expose frames. Environment : Cracking of ground conspicuous. Landsliding general on steep slopes. Liquefaction effects intensified and more widespread, with large lateral spreading and flow sliding adjacent to streams, canals, lakes, etc.
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