THE ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n
Santa Ana, Calif. (AP) — Southern California residents should remain on heightened alert until Tuesday for the increased possibility of a major earthquake, officials said.<\/p>\n
The warning by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services follows a series of small temblors deep under the Salton Sea, which is located on the 800-mile-long San Andreas fault, the Orange County Register reported Saturday (http:\/\/bit.ly\/2deTAxO)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Such warnings are typically issued once or twice a year, said Kelly Huston, the deputy director of crisis communications for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.<\/p>\n The latest alert was issued after 142 temblors hit starting Monday near Bombay Beach at the southern end of the fault. Those quakes ranged from a magnitude of 1.4 to 4.3, the U.S. Geological Survey said.<\/p>\n Scientists estimate the probability of a quake with a magnitude of 7.0 or higher on the southern San Andreas fault being triggered is as high as 1 in 100 and as low as 1 in 3,000. The average chance for such an earthquake striking on any given week is 1 in 6,000. That heightened probability will last through Tuesday.<\/p>\n Earthquakes along the San Andreas typically occur every 300 years, said Morgan Page, a geophysicist with the USGS. Earthquake Science Center, but the southernmost end of the fault hasn’t ruptured since 1690.<\/p>\n “There is significant stress stored on the southern end,” Page said.<\/p>\n Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday\u00a0signed legislation to develop a statewide warning system to inform Californians of impending earthquakes through their cellphones, radios and other devices.<\/p>\n “California is earthquake country,” said Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the state’s Office of Emergency Services. “We must always be prepared and not let our guard down.”<\/p>\n