Earthquake near Desert Hot Springs, 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 26 km (16 mi) from the epicentre. In Desert Hot Springs, 12 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: Desert Hot Springs 12 km, intensity III · Thousand Palms 15 km, intensity II · Yucca Valley 19 km, intensity II · Palm Springs 20 km, intensity II · Cathedral City 21 km, intensity II · Joshua Tree 21 km, intensity II · Morongo Valley 21 km, intensity II · Palm Desert 25 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 490 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 31,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.9× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 490 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 4.5 on 2018-05-08 — about 330 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 28 km N of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 50 km NW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
3. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 6 km E of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
4. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 6 km NE of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948
5. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 22 km WNW of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986

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 33.9515, -116.3787. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 13 km NE of Coachella, CA 10:59 UTC
2. 1.6 15 km N of Yucca Valley, CA 20:12 UTC
3. 2.1 11 km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 11:29 UTC
4. 1.9 19 km SW of La Quinta, CA 18:14 UTC
5. 1.9 9 km SSW of Morongo Valley, CA 10:37 UTC
6. 1.7 26 km NE of Thermal, CA 19:30 UTC
7. 2.2 26 km NE of Thermal, CA 09:26 UTC
8. 2.0 15 km ENE of Indio, CA 15:20 UTC
9. 2.0 15 km ENE of Indio, CA 12:01 UTC
10. 1.8 15 km ENE of Indio, CA 08:14 UTC
11. 2.4 28 km N of Yucca Valley, CA 03:12 UTC
12. 1.9 15 km ENE of Indio, CA 09:58 UTC
13. 1.6 15 km ENE of Indio, CA 06:11 UTC
14. 1.6 15 km NE of Coachella, CA 22:19 UTC
15. 1.9 15 km ENE of Indio, CA 21:24 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 12:03 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.