Palm Springs Area Hit by 4.3 Temblor

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake briefly jolted the California desert near Palm Springs Saturday, but there were no reports of damage or injury, authorities said.

The quake, centered 16 miles southwest of Palm Springs in the San Jacinto Mountains, occurred at 3:17 p.m., said seismologist Jim Mori of the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena.

The Riverside Sheriff’s Department received dozens of calls from residents seeking information on the temblor, Deputy Jesse Scott said.

“We get them all the time, so this is nothing special,” Scott said.

Small-to-moderate earthquakes along the San Jacinto fault line southwest of Palm Springs have become a common occurrence over the last 20 years, Mori said. The strongest recent quake along the fault was a 5.7-magnitude temblor in 1986, he said.

“This is a fairly active fault,” Mori said. “This type of earthquake is not an unusual event there.”

Saturday’s quake was felt as far south as San Diego and as far north as the Los Angeles region, said Mori, adding that it was felt very lightly in Pasadena.

The Riverside County sheriff’s station in Indio, 15 miles east of Palm Springs, received reports from residents who felt the shaking, but deputies at the station did not feel the quake.