{"id":142426,"date":"2026-01-21T01:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142426\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T01:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:49:08","slug":"california-region-rocked-by-over-a-dozen-earthquakes-in-24-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142426\/","title":{"rendered":"California region rocked by over a dozen earthquakes in 24 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A rapid-fire barrage of 16<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/15\/us-news\/bay-area-rattled-by-early-morning-earthquake\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> earthquakes slammed<\/a> Southern California in less than 24 hours, reigniting terrifying fears that the \u201cBig One\u201d is getting ready to tear the region apart.<\/p>\n<p>A 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit near Indio, in the Coachella Valley, on Monday night, followed by at least a dozen smaller tremors, seismic experts at the US Geological Survey confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>The dramatic burst of ground motion \u2014 part of an ongoing swarm of quakes in the region \u2014 occurred near the notorious San Andreas Fault, which runs near Indio.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.39959839;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38238615\" width=\"697\" height=\"498\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/usgs-magnitude-2-5-earthquakes-119311334.jpg\" alt=\"Map showing 14 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater in California and nearby areas over the last 24 hours.\" class=\"wp-image-38238615\"  \/>A 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit near Indio, followed by at least a dozen smaller quakes. earthquake.usgs.gov<\/p>\n<p>The USGS reported the quake struck at a depth of just two miles, making the shaking feel like a violent \u201cjolt\u201d for locals. No damage was reported.<\/p>\n<p>But the initial shock was just the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is coming soon. Sign up for updates.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet in early. Be the first to know about launch and home delivery.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Four additional quakes ranging from 3.4 to 2.9 magnitude were logged in the minutes that followed. <\/p>\n<p>The area was then hit by a relentless wave of over a dozen seismic disturbances. <\/p>\n<p>The second strongest in the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/15\/world-news\/4-2-magnitude-earthquake-hits-southern-israel-shaking-dead-sea-region\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">string of earthquakes <\/a>was a 3.8 magnitude, which was recorded at 10:48 a.m. on Tuesday, about 11 miles north of Indio.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.6;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38238617\" width=\"944\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/119312354.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of the San Andreas fault in California, showing the relative motion of the North American and Pacific plates.\" class=\"wp-image-38238617\"  \/>The Golden State was hit with a barrage of earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault. Dimitrios \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n<p>While the aftershocks registered as \u201cweak\u201d to \u201clight\u201d on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/programs\/earthquake-hazards\/modified-mercalli-intensity-scale\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Modified Mercalli Intensity scale<\/a>, they were still high enough to keep the desert area on edge.<\/p>\n<p>The Monday to Tuesday tremors were a vivid reminder that the earth under California is never truly still. <\/p>\n<p>For those who live in earthquake territory, it was not so much a question of if a bigger shake is coming \u2014but when.<\/p>\n<p>Officials have warned that aftershocks may continue for the next week, with a 6% chance that one will be higher than a magnitude 5. <\/p>\n<p>The USGC has <a href=\"https:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/eventpage\/ci41162719\/oaf\/commentary\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">forecasted<\/a> a \u201c99% chance of magnitude 3 and above aftershocks\u201d through Jan. 27, and \u201cit is most likely that 1 to 14 of these will occur.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 745 mile San Andreas Fault \u201ccan <a href=\"https:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/eventpage\/ci41162719\/region-info\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">generate the region\u2019s largest magnitude earthquakes<\/a> (up to about M8.2).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rapid-fire barrage of 16 earthquakes slammed Southern California in less than 24 hours, reigniting terrifying fears that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,3934,3586],"class_list":{"0":"post-142426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-earthquakes","12":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}