Seismo-Watch

More Special Earthquake Reports

September 21, 2002

An earthquake measuring M 4.1 shook the San Diego-Imperial County border region, startling many people but not causing any damage.

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According to the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) the earthquake measured a Local magnitude (ML) of 4.1 occurred at 2:26 p.m. PDT (21:26 GMT), September 21, about 8 miles southwest of Salton City and 6 miles north of Ocotillo Wells in the remote lower desert region of the Borrego Badlands. See a Topozone topographic map or a MapQuest street map.

The focal depth was placed at 12 km beneath the surface. A fault plane solution has not been done at this point.

Aftershocks
The quake was followed by a half dozen aftershocks, all in the M 1-2 range. The largest aftershock registered M 2.0 and occurred about a half hour after the main jolt.

It was the second M 4.0+ quake to strike the Southland in two weeks, but only the third in the three months.

Felt Reports
The quake was felt sharply in the epicentral region and as far away as the San Diego coast and Desert Hot Sptings. See USGS Community Intensity Report.

Additional seismic information links:

• Seismo-Watch - links for more Southern California information
• TRINet Preliminary Earthquake Page.
• USGS Community Intensity Report

Mainstream media news reports:

• Magnitude-4.1 quake rattles near Ocotillo Wells - Sarasota Herald-Tribune