Frantic Quakes Strike California's Dangerous Fault Line Amid Disaster Fears

A frantic series of quakes just hit California right along the fault line experts label 'America's most dangerous'. A warning has gone out about a catastrophic disaster chain reaction involving the global Ring of Fire, sparking fresh fears for millions in its path because this event is considered super overdue.

The first tremor struck deep inside the Bay Area at 11:30am ET, which translates to 8:30am local time. The US Geological Survey initially clocked the quake as a magnitude 4.1 event just fourteen miles out from San Francisco. That number was quickly adjusted down to a magnitude 3.8 tremor.

Three more quakes followed within the span of less than an hour, battering the region in rapid succession between 12:07pm and 12:38pm ET. The aftershocks registered at magnitudes of 3.0, 2.8, and finally 1.7 respectively.

Thousands of people felt the initial shake, with reports flooding in from Sacramento, roughly seventy-five miles to the east. The San Francisco Bay Area holds nearly eight million souls who are now on edge. This swarm erupted directly along the Hayward Fault, one of California's most concerning seismic zones.

The Hayward stretches for seventy-four miles as part of the massive San Andreas fault system. Like its more famous neighbor, it can produce a devastating quake stronger than 7.0 in magnitude and is deemed extremely overdue for a major event. USGS scientists have previously warned that an earthquake exceeding magnitude 6.7 has a 95 percent chance of hitting near the Bay Area by 2043.

Thursday's shaking was relatively light across the region according to USGS data. Yet, life in the area still stutters. BART train service ground to a halt during the event and is now running with delays stretching up to twenty minutes throughout the entire rail system.

No injuries have been reported. The last time a major earthquake erupted along the Hayward was 158 years ago in 1868, yet scientists say this fault typically ruptures every 95 to 183 years. A team from California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory stated: 'The fault is overdue for an earthquake that could cause extensive damage to such a dense population zone.' An analysis by the University of California, Berkeley determined the Hayward fault has a 33 percent chance of rupturing and producing a major magnitude 6.7 earthquake or greater by 2043. Researchers at USGS have previously warned there was a 72 percent chance of such a disaster striking the Bay Area in the next two decades, along the Hayward or another major fault in the area.

In recent days, however, geophysicist Stefan Burns has predicted that a major seismic event that devastates parts of California may be only months away. Burns told the Daily Mail: 'As of now, the activity is normal, but if we start to see more swarming and let's say multiple magnitude 4.0 earthquakes along the Hayward Fault in this location or nearby in quick succession, then something bigger is happening.' The first quake, a magnitude 3.8 event, was reported by thousands of residents from Sacramento to San Francisco. Burns said during a YouTube livestream this week that the US West Coast was now firmly 'in the crosshairs' after multiple magnitude 7.0 earthquakes in Venezuela and Colombia this summer.

The scientist explained that energy released during the magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Colombia's San Jose Del Palmar on August 10 would not stay local. Those seismic waves and stress changes travel through the Earth and can 'load' geological faults thousands of miles away with more pressure that will eventually cause more earthquakes. Burns warned that the next six to 12 months would be a critical time, especially in California, as many mega earthquakes throughout recent history have occurred within months of each other. 'It's that six [month] to one year time frame that we're worried about and if we get kind of past that then maybe we can start to breathe a bit of a sigh of relief,' Burns said on Monday. 'But because we've been seeing so much activity in Northern California, it's hard to rule out Northern California. So really all of California is problematic right now.'

According to ABC7, Thursday's initial quake struck right under the Oakland Zoo, which sent chimps and parrots into a frenzy. The zoo's CEO, Nik Dehejia, said animals often feel low-frequency vibrations, such as minor earthquakes, even when humans do not. This causes them to 'vocalize,' meaning the animals send out warnings of potential danger through sound.