Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7ml
Earthquake near Garnet, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Garnet in the 24 hours to 6:34 am PST (14:34 UTC). The last one was M 3.6, 60 km (37 mi) SSW, at 12:31 am PDT on 19 August 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 165 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Garnet
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 14 km (9 mi) west of Garnet, CA, at 7:51 pm PDT on 27 April 2016 (02:51 UTC), 15 km deep.
USGS: 8km WNW of Garnet, CA
18 km (11 mi) WNW of Cathedral City, CA · 131 km (82 mi) NNE of San Diego, CA
- When
- 7:51 pm PDT on 27 April 2016 ()
- Where
- 14 km (9 mi) west of Garnet, CA · earthquakes near Garnet
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (ml)
- Depth
- 15 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Riverside County, 61 km ESE
- Nearest mapped fault
- San Andreas fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3850 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Garnet, CA
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Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Garnet, 14 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cabazon, Morongo Valley, Desert Edge, Cathedral City.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 95× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 lb of TNT
Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.4 on 2016-01-06 — about 12,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 34 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 36 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 36 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 37 km NNW of this epicentre
- 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 29 km E of this epicentre
- 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 28 km ENE of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 33.9172, -116.6257. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside County, CA | 61 km (38 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Riverside County |
| San Diego County, CA | 100 km (62 mi) | S | earthquakes near San Diego County |
| Orange County, CA | 110 km (68 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Orange County |
| San Bernardino County, CA | 112 km (70 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near San Bernardino County |
| Imperial County, CA | 153 km (95 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Imperial County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
31 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.5 19km ESE of Anza, CA
- 2.0 12km ESE of Anza, CA
- 1.8 11km ESE of Anza, CA
- 2.2 6km ESE of Valle Vista, CA
- 2.3 8km NNW of Anza, CA
- 1.7 3km WSW of Yucaipa, CA
- 2.3 2km E of Nuevo, CA
- 1.9 5km SW of Idyllwild, CA
- 2.2 12km NE of Yucaipa, CA
- 1.8 3km ENE of Cabazon, CA
- 1.9 4km SW of Idyllwild, CA
- 1.6 9km N of Banning, CA
- 1.8 4km ENE of Calimesa, CA
- 1.5 4km SSE of Cabazon, CA
- 1.9 4km N of Beaumont, CA
Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.