by Colin Atagi:
It's unlikely a larger earthquake will be triggered by the magnitude 4.5 earthquake that woke up people across the Coachella Valley Wednesday morning, an expert said.
The earthquake, which was centered four miles northwest of Banning, is considered small and "isn't a big deal," said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center.
Although it happened near the San Andreas Fault, Blakeman said it would have had to be a magnitude 7.0 to cause a serious chain reaction.
"Even though a lot of people felt it and it got in the range where someone's picture may have gotten knocked off a wall, we don't expect significant damage," he said. "A 4.5 like this, even though it's pretty widely felt, it's really a very typical thing for this area, for Southern California."
The earthquake happened at 6:42 a.m. and it was initially registered as a 4.8 magnitude earthquake before being downgraded, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Residents across the desert said it woke them up well before their alarm clocks were set to go off.
"I didn't have to wake up until 8:30 (a.m.), but I was too shaken to go back to sleep," said Palm Springs resident Rachel Burger, 24. "It woke me up from a deep sleep right away, so my heart was pounding for a few minutes."
Burger added there was no damage to her home, but her cat wouldn't come out from a hiding place because he was scared.
The earthquake was at least felt as far away as Orange County to the west and Blythe to the east, according to reports on social media. National Weather Service forecasters in San Diego also said they felt the temblor.
Still, local law enforcement agencies said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. According to Blakeman, an earthquake would need to at least be a magnitude 5.0 before any notable damage occurs.
USGS Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones tweeted the earthquake was near a "complex part" of the San Andreas Fault and similar-sized earthquakes happened within that area in 1986, 1988, 1992 and 2005.
The largest of those was a magnitude 5.9 on July 8, 1986, she said.
A major earthquake hasn't happened in more than 150 years and experts have said the region is overdue for a big one.
The last major shake was the 2010 Easter Sunday earthquake centered southeast of Ocotillo in Imperial County, near the Mexican border.. That had a 7.2 magnitude and was felt across Southern California.
There have been several earthquakes in or near the Coachella Valley in the past 12 months, but the largest was a magnitude 4.1 centered near Borrego Springs on May 31.
The last time time there was an earthquake larger than magnitude 5.0 was on July 7, 2010 when a magnitude 5.5 earthquake happened near Anza.
www.desertsun.com
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