Another earthquake hits Indio overnight; renowned seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones says more could be on the way

After yet another notably sized earthquake struck near Indio overnight, following two days of seismic activity, renowned seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones says that even more temblors could head to the area due to its proximity to the San Andreas Fault system.

Wednesday morning's quake registered a little after midnight, roughly 12 miles northeast of Indio at a magnitude of 3.4, according to the United States Geological Survey. It's the third day of shaking felt throughout Southern California after a 4.9-magnitude quake struck Monday evening, which was followed by a series of aftershocks and a 3.8-magnitude tremor the next morning. Additionally, the USGS shows that dozens of smaller earthquakes, all registering under 3.0, have continued to happen in the same area.

Though no reports of structural damage or injury have been connected to any of the earthquakes, Dr. Lucy Jones, a Caltech seismologist, says there's probably more on the way. 

"It's big enough that we're starting at a pretty high level," Jones said. "So, I would guess there's probably going to be a couple more magnets and threes in this sequence, in this location."

She says that while the epicenter of the largest earthquake on Monday was close to the infamous San Andreas Fault, it fortunately occurred in one of the system's secondary faults.

"The San Andreas is the big feature, and has the really big earthquakes," she said. "It tends to not have the small earthquakes. It stresses the area around it, and you'll see all these little faults. We call them secondary faults around all of our major ones. And this is on one of those secondary faults."

Southern California is no stranger to seismic activity, with thousands of earthquakes taking place annually. Most of those occur between magnitudes of 2.5 and 5.4, which rarely cause damage to buildings. Last year, a similarly sized earthquake, which was also followed by multiple aftershocks, caused shaking felt through Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, though it happened closer to San Diego. 

Jones says that this most recent set of quakes could be foreshocks for a much larger event. 

"We've seen plenty of big earthquakes on big faults triggered by smaller ones, but those smaller ones that triggered them, we call them foreshocks, have all been within about 10 kilometers," she said. 

She said that Monday's 4.9-magnitude earthquake reminded her of a 6.2-magnitude temblor that struck near Joshua Tree back in 1992. It hit within the 10-kilometer margin, which translates to roughly six miles, of the San Andreas Fault and caused structural damage throughout the region like crumbled walls and fallen ceiling tiles. 

All of this, she believes, is a good reminder for people to say prepared in case the "big one" does strike.