SAN DIEGO, CA – Music fans enjoying the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival may have felt a slight jolt when a magnitude-3.8 earthquake hit the area on Saturday morning. The temblor occurred at 9:08 a.m. just north of Borrego Springs, a desert town in San Diego County, approximately 60 miles south of the festival grounds at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
The earthquake, though minor, was felt across a large portion of Southern California, a region with a population of over 20 million people. Reports from the U.S. Geological Survey indicated that residents in various locations from the U.S.-Mexico border to southern Orange County and into the desert felt at least weak shaking from the quake.
Located about 7 miles beneath the surface, the earthquake’s epicenter was not directly linked to a specific fault, despite its proximity to the San Andreas Fault, a well-known fault line in the area. Borrego Springs, the town closest to the earthquake’s center, is situated approximately 60 miles southwest of the San Andreas Fault.
Fortunately, there have been no injuries or significant damage reported as a result of the earthquake. Authorities from the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services and the sheriff’s department did not immediately provide any comments or information regarding the incident.
As festival-goers at Coachella prepared for a much-anticipated performance by No Doubt, the earthquake did not seem to cause much alarm. Some attendees even jokingly attributed the tremor to the power of the Saturday night headliners, including Tyler, the Creator. Despite the earthquake, festival organizers did not address the incident on their official social media accounts, focusing instead on building excitement for the second day of the festival’s weekend lineup.