MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- If he had been awake, Sgt. Garett B. Sutkowski could have experienced his first earthquake June 12 -- when California residents felt the first of four sizable quakes that rocked the state in less than a week.
He was also sawing logs five days later when a second temblor rocked Southern California. Again, he didn't feel thing.
That's OK with him.
Sutkowski, 22, from Chesterton, Ind., a military policeman who works the night shift at the air station here, has been through a few tornadoes. He says they don't scare him anymore, although "they suck and things fly everywhere."
"I would rather not ever have to experience (an earthquake)," he added.
Unlike Sutkowski, Petty Officer 3rd Class Joe R. Zuni, a dental technician at the 13 Area Dental Clinic, has been through more than a few earthquakes since childhood.
"I have gotten used to it," said Zuni, 24, from Oakland, adding that he slept through a major San Francisco Bay earthquake in 1989 that interrupted the World Series. It collapsed a section of the Bay Bridge, killed 62 people and caused almost $3 billion worth of damage.
Northern California was the site of the two other quakes that shook the Golden State last week.
Zuni felt the first of the temblors down south.
"I was on duty when I felt my building start to move from side to side, so I got up, and my lieutenant and I walked outside," Zuni said.
The first local quake was centered 20 miles west of Palm Springs along the San Jacinto Fault, near Anza in Riverside County. It registered 5.2 on the Richter scale and was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego.
Five days later, a magnitude 4.9 temblor struck at 1:53 p.m. and shook buildings on base. It was centered 3 miles northeast of Yucaipa in San Bernardino County.
Bill Jordan, president of the Southern California Earthquake Science Center, said the two quakes occurred 60 miles apart and "are probably unrelated," according to a report in the North County Times.
About 25 aftershocks -- topping out at magnitude 3.5 -- followed the second quake, the report said.
Information released by the United States Geological Survey says stepped-up quake activity doesn't necessarily mean a large quake is imminent. Moreover, small clusters of quakes are common in the Southern California desert, according to the USGS.
But to feel two on the coast in less than a week is rare.
Bill Watson was sitting at his desk at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar when he felt a "slight tremor" on June 12.
"My ears perked, and in less than a micro-second, my family put our evacuation plan into effect," said Watson, director of safety at the I Marine Expeditionary Force Safety Office.
"I am a former Marine pilot, so we have plan for everything, including fire and earthquake drills. It took us a heartbeat to head out of the door," added Watson, who has lived in California for most of his Marine Corps career.
A representative of the Camp Pendleton Utility Office said no power problems were reported after either quake.
Regionally, one injury -- a woman struck by a falling light fixture -- was reported in association with the second local quake.
The last major earthquake in Southern California occurred in 1994 in the San Fernando Valley. Known infamously as the Northridge Earthquake, it measured 6.7 and killed 57 people.
One of the two Northern California earthquakes matched the Northridge temblor in intensity -- the other was bigger. Fortunately, both were centered at sea.
The first -- magnitude 7.0 -- struck June 14 at about 6:50 p.m. about 90 miles southwest of Crescent City and 300 miles northwest of San Francisco, according to the USGS.
Later in the week, the 6.7 temblor struck 120 miles west of Eureka and shook cities from southern Oregon to San Francisco.
For tips on earthquake preparedness, check the American Red Cross Web site at www..redcross.org.