Hi Don,

It's a learning experience and it takes a lot of work at getting them wrong and the occasional right one to make some sense of it.

But while you mentioned the Bay Area, I would like to add that if no one has noticed the Oakland/Berkeley area has now had 4 quakes in the past two weeks and the general East Bay area has taken a turn which is so much closer to normal. Prior to Loma Prieta scientists said the Bay Area had on average one 3.0 quake every 18 days. Of course, that's not the inner Bay Area, but it includes San Jose and down to Hollister too, which are not in the Bay Area really.

My uptake from what I see is that we should be having more 3.0 quakes from now on and the odd 4.0 as well. The Hayward Fault is obviously on the move and its time to really get ready. If things progress, there's bound to be a 5.0 coming within 6 months.

Petra