Photo: USGS
A 4.9-magnitude earthquake was reported in California on Monday (January 19), according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake was recorded at 5:56 p.m. local time and centered at 19 kilometers (about 12 miles) north-northeast of Indio at a depth of 3.0 kilometers (about two miles). The USGS said it received 3,102 reports of people having felt the earthquake at the time of publication on Tuesday (January 20).
There is currently no tsunami threat in effect. The 4.9-magnitude earthquake was the largest recorded in Indio among 107 the last month and was among 724 total in the area during the past 365 days, according to EarthquakeTrack.com.
The state of California is reported to have had 78 earthquake measuring 1.5-magnitude or greater in the past 24 hours; 259 in the past seven days; 761 in the last 30 days; and 7,649 in past 365 days, according to EarthquakeTrack.com. Earthquakes measured between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude can be felt by a large population, however, rarely results in much damage, according to Michigan Tech via the Sacramento Bee.
An estimated 500,000 detectable earthquakes are reported worldwide annually, however, around 100,000 are felt and only 100 typically result in serious damage. Officials strongly advise that anyone caught in an earthquake should drop, cover and hold on, according to the Sacramento Bee.