Earthquake near Cabazon, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 45 km (28 mi) from the epicentre. In Cabazon, 11 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Banning 15 km, intensity II · Morongo Valley 16 km, intensity II · Beaumont 23 km, intensity II · Desert Hot Springs 24 km, intensity II · Yucaipa 27 km, intensity II · Palm Springs 28 km, intensity II · Big Bear City 29 km, intensity II · Big Bear Lake 30 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 160,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,200× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,100× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1.1 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.2× more

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 4.5 on 2018-05-08 — about 78 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 38 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 36 km NE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 34 km SW of this epicentre Apr 21, 1918
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 22 km NNW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.2 3 km SE of San Bernardino, California · 47 km W of this epicentre Jul 23, 1923
5. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 41 km E of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992

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 34.0127, -116.7518. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

58 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1. 1.7 5km N of Moreno Valley, CA 10:02 UTC
2. 1.7 13km WNW of Anza, CA 03:13 UTC
3. 1.6 11km NNE of Running Springs, CA 04:14 UTC
4. 2.0 6km E of Cabazon, CA 12:57 UTC
5. 2.0 3km NNE of Beaumont, CA 22:32 UTC
6. 1.5 12km NNE of Cabazon, CA 20:16 UTC
7. 1.6 14km N of Big Bear City, CA 06:52 UTC
8. 1.5 9km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 05:27 UTC
9. 2.0 16km NW of Morongo Valley, CA 04:21 UTC
10. 1.8 16km NW of Morongo Valley, CA 10:00 UTC
11. 2.4 8km ESE of Yucaipa, CA 06:16 UTC
12. 2.0 16km NW of Morongo Valley, CA 22:53 UTC
13. 1.6 16km NW of Morongo Valley, CA 17:20 UTC
14. 1.7 3km NE of Moreno Valley, CA 16:34 UTC
15. 1.5 4km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 17:14 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:40 UTC. 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.