An earthquake alone is shitty enough, a ‘swarm’ is horror — the latest cluster-shake is happening in the East Bay, with more than 200 recorded since last week. And the rattling continues (via ABC News yesterday):

A magnitude-3.5 temblor struck around 4 p.m. It actually hit just six seconds after a weaker 2.8 quake struck, initially leading the U.S. Geological Survey to believe it was measuring identical twin earthquakes.
An even weaker one, measuring 2.5, hit just at about 5:45 p.m.
A 2.9 and 2.8 earthquake struck at 9:33 p.m. in less than a minute.

(Illustration: ‘Earthquake,’ by Jakara Art, found here).

When earthquakes cluster together, it usually means it’s time to get scared-shitless — or not (via SFGate):

But scientists at the USGS say that’s not necessarily so.
The Calaveras Fault is simply releasing tension, and the chance for a bigger quake — one stronger than magnitude 6.7 — is low, about 7 percent within the next 30 years.
Swarms of this nature are not uncommon for the area, due to its position near the Calaveras fault, the scientists say.
A swarm of 120 small quakes, they noted, shook the area back in 2003.

Earthquakes are phenomenally-frightful. I grew up in south Alabama and tornado country, but there ain’t nothing like a ground-shaker — a swarm…