Earthquake: 4.5 quake strikes near Banning; biggest in area since 1992

A shallow magnitude 4.5 earthquake was reported Wednesday morning one mile from Banning, east of Riverside, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 6:42 a.m. at a depth of 0.6 miles.

According to the USGS, the epicenter was five miles from Beaumont, nine miles from Yucaipa and 12 miles from San Jacinto.

The shaking triggered countless burglary alarms for businesses in the area, but there were no reports of damage, Banning police said.

See more of our top stories on Facebook >>

“We still call it small,” said USGS seismologist Lucy Jones. “For those close to the quake it feels very strong, but there’s nothing in California that should be damaged at that level.”

It was the largest quake in the area since 1992 and was related to the San Andreas fault system, Jones said.

There is a 5-10% chance of an aftershock or larger quake hitting the area in the next seven days, said Ellen Yu, a seismologist at Caltech.

In the last 10 days, there have been three earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.

This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was first created by an algorithm written by Times staff.

Read more about Southern California earthquakes.

ALSO

For a man’s makeshift home, destruction swiftly follows El Niño’s arrival

San Diego rushes to establish rules on marijuana cultivation

FBI probes mystery of San Bernardino shooters’ whereabouts for 18 minutes after massacre