‘Swaggart Swarm’ Rattles Indio

An area near the potentially deadly San Andreas Fault was rattled by 117 small earthquakes last weekend, scientists said Wednesday.

The quakes raised some concern among scientists because they were centered only six miles northeast of a section of the San Andreas Fault that the U.S. Geological Survey believes is most likely to produce the much-feared “Big One”--a catastrophic quake measuring magnitude 7.5 to 8.0

Seven of the 117 quakes measured magnitude 3.0 or larger, Caltech and the USGS said in their weekly Southern California earthquake report. The first of those occurred at 7:45 a.m. Friday. The largest jolt, which measured 3.9, was felt in Indio on Saturday. The temblors ended Monday.

Because the temblors started about the time police in Indio stopped the car of preacher Jimmy Swaggart, whose passenger was a prostitute, scientists have dubbed the series of quakes the “Jimmy Swaggart swarm.”