Quake Rattles Palm Springs Area; No Damage Reported

A moderate earthquake shook the Palm Springs area Tuesday night, startling residents of the desert resort but apparently doing no damage.

“We felt it--but that’s old news around here,” said Palm Springs Police Sgt. Mark Goodman. “We’ve had a swarm of little quakes since the big one last July. By now, a new shake just rates about a dozen telephone calls--and that’s what we got.”

Caltech spokesman Dennis Meredith said the 7:28 p.m. quake was centered about nine miles north of Palm Springs, under Desert Hot Springs.

Meredith said the quake, which registered 4.7 on the Richter scale, was an aftershock of the July 8 temblor that measured 5.6, injured 40 people and caused $8 million in damage.

Desert Hot Springs residents Steve and Rebeka Carpenter were in a market with their 6-year-old daughter, Anna, when Tuesday’s temblor hit.

“It shook pretty good, for about 10 seconds, but it was no biggie,” Steve Carpenter said.

“We were standing in front of the dairy counter and just stood still,” Rebeka Carpenter said. “Steve wanted to go home right away. But I said, ‘No, dear. We came to get dog food.’

The husband left the store with his daughter, anyway. “They left me in there to perish,” she added, laughing.