Petra,
The three earthquakes in Idaho in the Ml 3.5+ range since the Nisqually earthquake
(today - ml 3.8; April 21 5.3 (Southeast Idaho) and March 10 Ml 3.6 near Cascade ID.
does suggest that something may have changed the strain conditions there since there
were no earthquakes in Idaho with ML>=3.5 during the 14 months prior to the Nisqually
earthquake. That something may have been the Washington earthquake. On the other
hand, the technique that the predictors used in predicting today's event allowed them
to make this prediction in March 2000 and again in October 2000, long before the
Nisqually earthquake on Feb. 28, 2001, so there may be several factors at play here.