A swarm of 20 earthquakes has jolted Southern California, shaking communities just miles from Los Angeles. The largest quake reached a magnitude of 3.3, and all struck within a tight two-hour window near the city of Fillmore.

Major quakes in Japan and Alaska along with a spate of smaller earthquakes in California this fall make folks ask, is the Big One near?

A swarm of at least six earthquakes reaching up to magnitude 2.9 rattled San Ramon near San Francisco, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. The other quakes in the Saturday, Dec. 13, swarm ranged from magnitude 1.3 to 2.3, according to the USGS.

On Monday morning, around 30 minor earthquakes erupted in a swarm near the Geysers geothermal field south of Clear Lake. The day before, seven quakes rattled Sonoma County, including a 4.0 quake. The recent uptick isn’t out of the ordinary, according to U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Susan Hough.

Residents in Nevada woke up to a shocking 5.9 magnitude earthquake alert, but after the panic settled, the whole thing turned out to be a fake quake alert sent by USGS.

The ShakeAlert system that warns about imminent shaking arriving from earthquakes sent a false alarm across California on Thursday morning for a magnitude 5.9 temblor that did not happen.

A preliminary 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck California’s Sonoma County on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Geological Survey. The tremor hit at about 15:30 local time and was centred near the town of Glen Ellen. Residents in nearby Santa Rosa reported feeling light shaking.

California's seismic risk is increasing with supershear earthquakes, which are faster and more destructive than typical earthquakes.

A rare, ultra-long earthquake in Myanmar revealed that mature faults can deliver their full force directly to the surface. The discovery could mean stronger shaking near faults like California’s San Andreas than current models predict.

A minor, 3.1-magnitude earthquake struck in Southern California on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The temblor happened at 10:27 a.m. Pacific time about 8 miles northwest of Fillmore, Calif., data from the agency shows.