A strong and very shallow earthquake struck early Friday in Anza Borrego Desert State Park in northern San Diego County, followed by several aftershocks.
The temblor struck at 1:04 a.m. at a depth of 0.6 mile with a magnitude of 5.2, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
A quake of such strength can generate considerable damage, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in San Diego or Riverside counties, although the earthquake triggered a minor rockslide on Montezuma Valley Road, about 14 miles southeast of Borrego Springs.
“We did not have any reports of damage or injuries from earthquake,” San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said, adding: “This is a good reminder to have a plan in place.”
Residents told the USGS the quake was felt as far west as in Del Mar, Oceanside and Chula Vista in San Diego County; as far south as Tijuana and Rosarito Beach in Mexico; throughout Orange and Riverside counties; and even in central Los Angeles.
The quake’s epicenter was 13 miles north-northwest of Borrego Springs in San Diego County and 16 miles south-southwest of La Quinta in Riverside County.
The earthquake occurred along the San Jacinto Fault, historically the most active fault in Southern California, according to seismologist Lucy Jones. It was near a magnitude-6 earthquake in 1937 and a magnitude-5.3 earthquake in 1980, Jones reported.
“We have never seen a San Andreas earthquake triggered by a San Jacinto earthquake,” Jones wrote on Twitter, referring to the state’s most famous fault, the one along which the so-called “big one” is expected to hit someday.
“Every earthquake has a 5 percent of triggering an aftershock that is bigger than itself — always within a few miles of location of the first earthquake,” Jones wrote.
There were at least eight aftershocks in the same general area within 3 hours and 10 minutes. The strongest were magnitude-3.5 shakers at 1:06 a.m., 1:33 a.m. and 4.14 a.m. — all at a depth of slightly more than 6 miles.
Among those who felt the quake and voiced their reactions on social media was skateboarding legend and Carlsbad resident Tony Hawk.
“Earthquake! It felt like a bus hit our house,” Hawk said via Twitter.
City News Service contributed to this article.
