The largest quake, magnitude 5.3, struck at 12:31 p.m. about three miles north-northwest of the small Imperial County farming town of Brawley, according to Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. It was followed minutes later by a magnitude-4.9 quake.
The first quake had a magnitude of 3.9 and hit at 10:02 a.m.
It was followed by a smaller quake about 90 seconds later in the same area near the southern end of the Salton Sea, and other smaller quakes followed within six minutes of the first shock.
Several glasses and a bottle of wine crashed to the floor and shattered at Assaggio, an Italian restaurant in Brawley, said owner Jerry Ma. The shaking was short-lived but intense, he said.
'It felt like there was quake every 15 minutes. One after another. My kids are small and they're scared and don't want to come back inside,' said Mike Patel, who manages Townhouse Inn & Suites in Brawley. Read More