American Notes California

Earthquakes are so common in California that many of them are hardly noticed. But this month five sizable quakes in Southern and Central California have shaken residents, demolished mobile homes and split open at least one road, creating a whole new canyon while startled vacationers watched. Last week's tremor near Bishop registered 6.1 on the Richter scale, a good rumble, and caused unusual concern because it followed so closely after the others.

Do the tremors portend the "big one" that Californians have feared for decades? No, say experts. Robert Uhrhammer of the University of California seismographic station in Berkeley called the succession of earthquakes "pure coincidence." Said he: "There is no evidence that other earthquakes are any more likely now than at any other time."