5.0 earthquake strikes Imperial County

INDIO - A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck Imperial County at 11:33 a.m. today and was widely felt in the Coachella Valley.

Public agency dispatchers in Indio and other Coachella Valley cities reported they did not feel the quake, unlike their counterparts in San Diego. But people in Palm Springs, Indio and Lake Elsinore logged on to a USGS web site to report feeling the quake.

The epicenter was estimated by automated seismographs and computers to be shallow -- just 1.1 mile deep -- and was epicentered 16 miles west-southwest of El Centro, near the small Imperial Valley farm town of Seeley.

It was followed at 11:46 by a 4.7 magnitude quake centered a few miles south, just across the Mexican border.

The 5.0 quake was felt at San Diego police headquarters downtown and the sheriff's dispatch center, said sheriff's Lt. Harold Turner. Turner said he has received no public reports of damage or injuries.

California Highway Patrol dispatchers and other regional police agencies said they were unaware of the temblor. People as far away as Aliso Viejo also registered feeling the quake on a USGS web site.

The quakes were apparent two of the several thousand of aftershocks to the Easter Sunday magnitude 7.2 quake, which killed two people in Mexicali and caused about $91 million on the U.S. side of the border.