QUAKE PATTERN 'NOT OMINOUS' THERE'S STILL TIME TO PREPARE SURVIVAL KIT BEFORE A MAJOR TEMBLOR STRIKES.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Earthquakes normally don't rattle Dawna Shuman, but four California shakers in a week caused her to scramble for her sweats.

``I did lay out a running suit on the floor of my closet, ready to be snatched,' said Shuman, a mid-50s Canadian expatriate living in Sherman Oaks.

She needn't worry - too much, some seismologists say.

Though California has been rocked by four significant quakes since Sunday, earthquake predictors say they don't see the Big One - a major temblor along the San Andreas Fault - occurring as a result.

``The pattern is not ominous,'' said Susan Hough, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena. ``The odds are that sequence wound down. Based on everything we've seen, you don't trigger into a doomsday scenario.''

In recent weeks, Southern California experienced a series of medium-size quakes.

Then last Sunday, a magnitude-5.2 earthquake shook Anza in Riverside County - an event that may have triggered Thursday's magnitude-4.9 quake in Yucaipa in adjacent San Bernardino County.

On Tuesday, a magnitude-7.2 quake off the Northern California coast sent residents scrambling from a tsunami warning, followed late Thursday by a magnitude-6.4 quake off Eureka suspected to be an aftershock.

``We're a little jittery,'' said Tom Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California, reached by phone in Maine. ``Earthquakes trigger other earthquakes.''

Though Jordan said he's ``not too concerned'' about a major quake resulting from this week's temblors, he cautioned that ``we can have the Big One any day.''

Residents are cautioned to stock up on five days worth of emergency water, food, medicine - to prepare an earthquake disaster kit, be trained in first aid and have prepared a family disaster plan.

``When the earthquake hits, it's too late to wonder, Should I have prepared an earthquake disaster kit,'' said H.T. Linke, spokesman for the American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles.

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

PREPARE FOR THE BIG ONE

In the event of a major earthquake or other disaster, experts recommend that residents store five days of emergency supplies, including:

--Water, at least a gallon per person per day.

--Food, dry, canned and tasty.

--Warm clothes, sturdy shoes, sleeping bag and tent.

--First-aid kit, including prescription medications; toilet paper, plastic bags and hygiene wipes.

--Flashlights and batteries; portable radio and map; emergency tools, including a crowbar; work gloves; and a fire extinguisher.

Source: The Los Angeles Fire Department Disaster Preparedness Unit

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PREPARE FOR THE BIG ONE (see text)