Baja

The moderate 5.4 magnitude earthquake that rolled through Southern California on Wednesday was probably triggered by the Mexicali temblor that hit Easter Sunday, seismologists said. Earthquake scientists' preliminary analysis had already shown that the 7.2 magnitude Baja California quake placed more pressure on at least two fault zones in Southern California — the Elsinore and the San Jacinto. Wednesday's earthquake, which caused no major damage, appeared to confirm that analysis.

A hurricane south of Baja California should generate large waves and dangerous currents in parts of Orange and San Diego counties on Sunday and Monday, the National Weather Service announced Saturday. Twelve-foot waves could begin hitting beaches around 11 a.m. Sunday and could last until Monday, potentially creating prime surfing conditions in areas from Huntington Beach to San Onofre. But forecasters also predicted strong, northbound currents and potentially dangerous riptides.

The 300 or so people who live in Ocotillo, Calif., had been on edge ever since a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Easter Sunday just across the Mexico border, causing minor damage in the tiny desert town. And then the shaking came even closer to home. The community just off Interstate 8 in Imperial County was five miles from the epicenter of the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that hit at 9:26 p.m. Monday. Experts described that temblor as an aftershock of the April 4 quake in Baja California and said Ocotillo's trembling is far from over.

San Diego State is a U.S. university with one foot in Mexico. For years, students pursuing international degrees have attended the hillside campus because a study abroad experience is only a quick trip down Interstate 5. But studies south of the border are on hold after California State University administrators prohibited all university-sponsored activities in this sprawling city. Drug war violence, they say, poses a threat to visitors. Many students think the only thing threatened now is their education.

A 4.8-magnitude earthquake shook Baja Mexico at 10:33 a.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was located 71 miles east of Tijuana and 22 miles south-southwest of Seeley, Calif. The quake was felt as far north as San Diego but there were no reports of damage there, authorities said. The quake was one of a cluster of four seismic events located very close to one another just south of the border, according to the USGS. The first was a magnitude 4.9 quake that occurred at 10:30 a.m.; the second was the 4.8 magnitude quake at 10:33 a.m.; the third was a 1.9 magnitude quake at 10:52 a.m. and the fourth was a 3.6 magnitude quake at 10:59 a.m.

The condo in the Palacio del Mar development just south of Mexico's Rosarito Beach spares no luxuries. Travertine tile. Stainless steel appliances. A customized wine rack. Then there's the view. On one side is the glittering Pacific. On another, just 30 feet away, is the half-completed shell of an adjacent condominium project. The building looks like an abandoned parking garage, with floors of concrete piled atop one another and steel spikes poking out from the floor. This luxury condo belongs to Dan McNeil, a Phoenix real estate investor who put it up for sale a year ago after the value of his properties above the border tanked.

Roberto de la Madrid, who became the first U.S.-born governor of a Mexican state when he took office in 1977 in Baja California, has died. He was 88. De la Madrid died March 19, officials from Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party confirmed. He had cancer and died in Tijuana, according to media reports. Born in 1922 in Calexico to Mexican parents, he was taken across the border to Mexicali soon after his birth. Raised on both sides of the border, De la Madrid counted Jose Lopez Portillo -- then president of Mexico -- as his closest personal friend when the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party chose him as its candidate for governor of Baja California.

If you've been feeling more shaking this year, it's not your imagination. The number of earthquakes greater than magnitude 4.0 in Southern California and Baja California has increased significantly in 2010. There have been 70 such quakes so far this year, the most of any year in the last decade. And it's only April. There were 30 in 2009 and 29 in 2008. Seismologists said they are studying the uptick but cannot fully explain it. Major earthquakes tend to occur in cycles, and experts have said the region in recent years has been in a quiet cycle when it comes to sizable temblors.

The U.S.-Mexico border reopened Tuesday to northbound vehicle traffic, but Calexico's historic downtown district remained closed as inspectors checked for structural damage to buildings in the wake of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake just south of here Easter Sunday. The border crossing had been closed to northbound traffic as officials checked for damage to the federal building, but pedestrians continued to cross through the checkpoint from Mexicali as they fled the aftershocks rocking northern Baja California.

Three strangers waited for the elevator in the lobby of a Mid-Wilshire-area office building Monday morning. One of them pushed the "up" button. Nothing happened. He pushed it again. Still nothing. Five long minutes passed. Resigned, the man took a Korean-language newspaper from a stand and started reading. Similar scenes played out across the region Monday after Sunday's magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Baja California stopped or slowed elevator service in many Southern California buildings.