Earthquake jolts wide swath of Southern California

LOS ANGELES — An early morning earthquake jolted a wide swath of Southern California awake Tuesday. CBS Los Angeles reports the quake, which struck about 6 miles south-southeast of Mt. San Gorgonio at about 4:49 a.m., was downgraded to magnitude-4.5. It was initially reported to have a preliminary magnitude of 4.6.

The temblor in the Cabazon area was felt as far west as the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley, as far south as Tijuana, and near Barstow to the north. Residents in the Inland Empire reported feeling it strongly in cities like Menifee, Rancho Cucamonga and Temecula.

More than 9,000 people used the U.S. Geological Survey's citizen reporting website to say they felt the quake, but the Riverside County Fire Department received no reports of damage or injuries.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, that initial quake was followed about two minutes later by two more measuring in at 2.2 and 3.2.

Metrolink reported that trains out of San Diego and the Inland Empire may experience delays due to precautionary trackinspections following the earthquake.  

The quake occurred 8 miles beneath wilderness north of Cabazon, a lightly populated desert community best known to travelers along Interstate 10 as the location of giant dinosaur statues, a casino resort, outlet stores and giant spinning windmills that turn the gusty winds of San Gorgonio Pass into electricity. 

Veteran seismologist Lucy Jones tweeted that the quake occurred near a complex part of the San Andreas fault that cannot be clearly seen on the surface there because it is covered by another fault. She said the movement was mostly that of a thrust fault in which one side moves up over the other side. 

"I slept through it," Jones tweeted. 

One woman told CBS Los Angeles she woke up shortly before the quake. "I knew it was an earthquake -- you can hear it when it comes," she said.