RESIDENTS SHARE REACTIONS TO QUAKES IN DESERT

By Miriam Raftery

June 10, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – A 5.2 earthquake that struck northwest of Borrego Springs in Anza Borrego Desert State Park at 1:03 this morning was felt widely, in part because it was at a shallow depth of just 1 kilometer.  Residents and at least one seismologist jolted by the quake and aftershocks quickly took to social media to report their experiences.

“Things were really rockin’ and rollin’ for awhile here!”  wrote Dennis Mammana, famed night sky photographer in Borrego Springs.

In Lakeside, Billy Ortiz called the quake “gnarly” adding, ”I heard it coming like a stampeding herd of buffalo across the prairie, then BOOM, a violent shake, then more rumble as it left.”

The quake struck along the San Jacinto fault, one of the most active fault lines in California.  The Los Angeles Times reports that a major quake on the San Jacinto could pose a major threat to the region—and that both the San Jacinto and San Andreas faults could rupture together in a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, according to a study done earlier this year by Julian Lozos, a Cal State Northridge professor of geophysics working on post-doctoral research at Stanford University and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist and USGS scientist emeritus, tweeted however, “We have never seen a San Andreas EQ triggered by a San Jacinto EQU. The 2 faults are ~25 miles apart.”

She added this advice for gauging a quake’s strength:  If you feel 10+ seconds of shaking, you know it is at least a magnitude 5 on the Richter scale, Jones said.

Chris Tarpening with the National Weather Service tweeted an image of damage at a home in La Quinta, near the epicenter of the quake.

The quake also sent rockslides tumbling down across some desert roadways and rousted many from slumber.

But some slept through the temblor, which was felt as far away as the Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.

Melissa Mecija at 10 News made this wry observation on Twitter: