WESTMORLAND, Calif. – A swarm of earthquakes, the largest a magnitude 4.9, rattled Southern California near the Mexico border Wednesday evening, but no damage or injuries were reported.
More than 80 quakes centered in remote Imperial County struck from 4 to 8 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The 4.9 magnitude temblor hit just after 5:30 p.m. and was centered about 2½ miles northeast of Westmorland, a city of about 2,300 people near the Salton Sea, an inland desert lake.
Many of the other quakes were of magnitude 3 and above.
Seismologist Lucy Jones said the quakes were in the Brawley seismic zone, where such swarms are common. It produced a magnitude 5.8 earthquake in 1981, Jones said in a tweet.
The zone is a network of small faults connecting the larger Imperial fault and the huge San Andreas fault.
Jones said the swarm was too far away to raise the low odds of affecting the San Andreas.
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