Chihuahua Mexico: 4 earthquakes in 9 hours – Is a major quake on the way?

May 8, 2011 – EL PASO, Texas — In the past week, the El Paso region has had four earthquakes at least 4.2 in scale. Seismologist Aaron Velasco tells KFOX14 the earthquakes could foreshadow a large scale earthquake in El Paso. These earthquakes all happened in a remote area of Chihuahua, Mecico. They were still pretty close to the U.S. border. Most El Pasoans KFOX 14 spoke with said they never worry about earthquakes because they don’t think we’re on a fault line. Velasco said the mountains in El Paso are proof that we are on one or more fault lines. “The hazard is not zero here in El Paso,” said Velasco. “It’s low compared to California and Japan, but at any particular time that means that we could have an earthquake.” Emergency services and Red Cross experts told us that the best thing El Pasoans can do is to prepare themselves for an earthquake. They recommend keeping a go-bag, or emergency kit with things like: AM/FM radio, flashlight, fresh batteries, bottled water, a first-aid kit, and even a whistle in case you get trapped somewhere. –Fox News

The troubling aspect of these earthquakes near Juarez is that they are now moving closer to the surface. A dormant geological fault is now kinetic and very active. Three quakes struck today at a depth of 10 km, but the most powerful quake in the swarm, a 4.0 magnitude, erupted at 5.0 km below the surface. USGS seismicity maps of the region show very little past history so Texas could also be entering a new geological era of an awakening. Intermittent quakes have also been reported in greater frequency around the Lubbock region of north Texas this year (yellow square on map). Stay tuned…