Is something happening on the Hayward Fault? We can't say if these are precursors to something bigger or just your average minor earthquake swarm. But the Hayward Fault has been moving today.

Residents of the East Bay, particularly in and around Hayward, have felt a series of small jolts today, beginning with a 2.7M quake that happened at 5:03 am. That was followed by slightly larger quakes — a 3.3M quake at 11:52 am, a 3.2M quake two minutes later, and then a 3.6M quake at 1:59 pm which was felt across the Bay in San Francisco.

That latter earthquake had an initial magnitude of 3.7M.

The Shake Map for the 1:59pm quake, via USGS

We are overdue, as you may have heard, for a major earthquake on the Hayward Fault. The last so-called 150-year event on the fault happened in 1868, and you can do the math there.

The US Geological Survey launched an earthquake preparedness project in 2019 called HayWired. It imagined a scenario in which a 7.0M quake comes to the Hayward Fault, and they estimate that could cause 800 deaths, upwards of 100,000 people could be displaced, and interruptions of water service could cause small fires to become conflagrations like what happened in the 1906 earthquake — burning, potentially, 52,000 homes.

Sadly, if such a thing happens during this Trump administration, we could end up being more on our own than ever before in terms of disaster response and FEMA help.

And, sadly, when "#earthquake" trends on Twitter as it did today, with these Hayward earthquakes, there are a bunch of jackasses who turn this political and show their glee about California experiencing such a disaster. One such poster today said every time he sees the hashtag trending "I hope California has finally became part of the Pacific Ocean and my property in Nevada is now ocean front. Someday."

Anyway, we'll use this opportunity to remind you to get a go-bag together in the event of a major earthquake — here's a guide to pulling one together. And you should also have ample bottled water, canned goods, and cash in small bills on hand in the event that you need to shelter in place without power or water.