[Strategerist]

Every earthquake on a fault line relieves stress.

Actually, some increase it.

Point is anything under M6 is basically meaningless in the grand scheme of things in "stress release."

The overwhelming % of the stress in Southern California (or the world, for that matter) is released in quakes of M6 or higher.

[Dog Gone]

They can increase the stress at a different point by shifting the point where the plates are interfacing. But the quake relieves stress at the epicenter.

Big quakes relieve more stress than smaller quakes. No shocker there.