Magnitude 4.9 earthquake near Palm Desert shakes parts of San Diego County

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake occurred at 5:56 p.m. Monday about 17 miles northeast of Palm Desert in Riverside County, producing shaking that was felt in parts of San Diego County, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake broke near the San Andreas fault, an 800-mile-long system, part of which extends through the Cajon Pass area and Coachella Valley and into the Salton Sea.

“We periodically have quakes of this size, and they rarely lead to something bigger,” said Tom Rockwell, a seismologist at San Diego State University. “But 5% of the time, they do give us something bigger.

“We haven’t had a big quake on the San Andreas for 300 years. The interval time for one is about 150 years.”