Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 3.8mw
7km NE of Desert Hot Springs, CA
- When
- Magnitude
- M 3.8 (mw)
- Depth
- 8.3 km below the surface
- Felt
- 742 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
- Measured shaking
- intensity IV (ShakeMap)
- Nearest
- Riverside County, 51 km SE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1527 days ago
This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 742 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 6.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 26,000× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 810× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 3.8 about 6.6 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 14× 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.
Where
Epicentre 34.0078, -116.4448. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside County, CA | 51 km (32 mi) | NW of here | earthquakes near Riverside County |
| San Bernardino County, CA | 97 km (61 mi) | SSW of here | earthquakes near San Bernardino County |
| San Diego County, CA | 114 km (71 mi) | NNE of here | earthquakes near San Diego County |
| Imperial County, CA | 148 km (92 mi) | NW of here | earthquakes near Imperial County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
45 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 11km WSW of Morongo Valley, CA
- 2.8 36km N of Yucca Valley, CA
- 2.5 10km S of Idyllwild, CA
- 2.0 34km N of Yucca Valley, CA
- 2.1 11km NE of Indio, CA
- 1.6 4km ESE of Yucca Valley, CA
- 1.7 6km S of Yucca Valley, CA
- 1.6 6km SE of Valle Vista, CA
- 2.4 11km NE of Cabazon, CA
- 1.8 10km SSE of Idyllwild, CA
- 1.9 10km SW of Idyllwild, CA
- 1.7 16km S of Joshua Tree, CA
- 2.0 16km NE of Coachella, CA
- 1.6 6km NE of San Jacinto, CA
- 1.6 10km N of Banning, 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2018-05-08 — it released about 12 times the energy of this one.
From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.
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.