Would not the fear of the proverbial "Big One" be greater if we were not getting mild ones in between stronger jolts?
Do not mild earthquakes indicate normal movement (i.e. relieving of stress)?
If California had gone 20 years or so without any earthquakes, I would feel that the "Big One" was much more imminent.
Earthquakes of this size relieve basically no stress whatsoever.
It would take ONE THOUSAND quakes of this size (M 4.0) to relieve the same amount of stress as an M 6 quake.
I was at a public meeting in Yucaipa giving earthquake advice and their reasoning was that the fault lines above and near the San Andreas could trigger a major earthquake if they started have earthquakes on what has essentially been dormant faults. They sit right over the San Andreas. He was explaining that the SoCal mountains were formed by earthquakes and if you travel the roads on the back way to Norton AFB from Yucaipa through Mentone through Waterman Canyon on Greenspot Road where you have the Mill Creek fault which merges into the San Andreas Fault, you can actually view the different layers of rock of the earth as they rose out of the ground.
Been looking for the Earthquake handout they gave us that night. Did find my Earthquake book that shows all the faults in the Yucaipa area. It talks about Mill Creek Canyon and the Mill Creek fault that eventually joins in with the San Andreas Fault in Waterman Canyon. Mill Creek Fault in the Yucaipa area is near the the San Andreas and was a worry to the geologist that night because if has a large enough earthquake, it could rupture the San Andreas in that area. It also talks about the San Jacinto Fault that parallels the San Andreas.