Earthquake near Anza, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 3 km (2 mi) from the epicentre. In Anza, 6 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: Idyllwild, Idyllwild-Pine Cove, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Palm Springs.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 19 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 790,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 560,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 50× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 19 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 5.2 on 2016-06-10 — about 95,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 37 km WNW of this epicentre Apr 21, 1918
2. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 50 km NE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
3. 6.0 16km WSW of Oasis, CA · 41 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 25, 1937
4. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 45 km N of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986
5. 5.5 1km ENE of Borrego Springs, CA · 45 km SSE of this epicentre Apr 28, 1969

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 33.5947, -116.6267. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 8km ENE of Cabazon, CA 04:50 UTC
2. 1.6 5km NW of Palomar Observatory, CA 14:32 UTC
3. 1.8 12km NNE of Cabazon, CA 09:19 UTC
4. 1.5 12km N of Thousand Palms, CA 18:28 UTC
5. 1.7 17km NNW of Borrego Springs, CA 15:48 UTC
6. 2.0 13km NE of Borrego Springs, CA 11:13 UTC
7. 1.9 6km SW of Idyllwild, CA 23:38 UTC
8. 1.5 14km ENE of Thousand Palms, CA 20:51 UTC
9. 2.0 7km S of Idyllwild, CA 09:25 UTC
10. 1.8 11km N of Borrego Springs, CA 12:19 UTC
11. 1.5 6km SW of Idyllwild, CA 05:37 UTC
12. 2.5 7km NE of Banning, CA 23:44 UTC
13. 1.5 14km ENE of Thousand Palms, CA 13:18 UTC
14. 2.0 15km ENE of Thousand Palms, CA 09:19 UTC
15. 3.1 14km ENE of Thousand Palms, CA 09:05 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 14:38 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.