{"id":311306,"date":"2026-05-12T02:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T02:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/311306\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T02:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T02:32:10","slug":"earthquake-swarm-shakes-southern-california-southwest-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/311306\/","title":{"rendered":"Earthquake swarm shakes southern California, southwest Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">PHOENIX (AZFamily) \u2014 Southern California and southwest Arizona remained on earthquake alert Monday evening after a weeklong swarm rattled <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/8zR141iqpaYx11Yd8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/8zR141iqpaYx11Yd8\">Imperial County<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Nearly 300 earthquakes have struck the area in the past seven days, with the strongest reaching a 4.7 magnitude.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The shaking was felt across Imperial County, but residents in <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/WdU1WZVaY1aYWaJr7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/WdU1WZVaY1aYWaJr7\">Brawley, California<\/a>, say the recent activity stands out from the occasional quakes they\u2019re used to.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI remember hearing a rumbling sound\u2014it sounded like it was going to be a big earthquake,\u201d said Thomas Berry, a Brawley resident. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t expect it to be that big.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Berry said the quake hit quickly while he was walking his dog, knocking out power across parts of the city and leaving his home littered with broken glass. He said that items were also thrown from shelves inside local grocery stores.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Another resident, Mia Gomez, said she felt the strongest shaking from the fourth floor of her apartment complex.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI was on the bed\u2026scrolling and talking when I felt that bigger one,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cI remember thinking this is really big.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Gomez said the quake caused minor damage at her complex, including broken pipes that forced some neighbors to evacuate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThere were water leaks on each floor\u2014I was able to see cracking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Why it\u2019s happening and what to expect next<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Imperial County is no stranger to seismic activity. <a href=\"https:\/\/search.asu.edu\/profile\/7498\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/search.asu.edu\/profile\/7498\">Ramon Arrowsmith<\/a>, a professor of Earth and space exploration at Arizona State University, said the quakes are centered beneath Brawley in a region influenced by major fault systems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWhat is going on is that the big faults that allow for western California to move to the northwest due to plate tectonics\u2026the Imperial Fault and the San Andreas fault,\u201d Arrowsmith said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Arrowsmith said swarms in this area can last up to two weeks, and that this activity is considered fairly normal. He added that the swarm does not necessarily mean a major earthquake is imminent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/page\/send-us-your-feedback\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azfamily.com\/community\/user-content\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">it to us here<\/a> with a brief description.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 KTVK\/KPHO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AZFamily) \u2014 Southern California and southwest Arizona remained on earthquake alert Monday evening after a weeklong swarm&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[130480,2123,130478,130477,7,130479,9,8,12925,14646,130481],"class_list":["post-311306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-300-earthquakes","tag-azfamily","tag-burst-of-earthquakes","tag-ca-earthquake","tag-california","tag-california-earthquakes-in-arizona","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-imperial-county","tag-phoenix-news","tag-was-there-an-earthquake-near-yuma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311306","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=311306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}