California IN BRIEF : PALM DESERT : 3.3 Quake Rocks Most Active Fault

A mild earthquake on Southern California’s most active fault rattled desert dwellers but apparently caused no damage or injuries. The jolt measured magnitude 3.3 and was centered 15 miles south of Palm Desert on the San Jacinto Fault Zone, said Robert Finn, spokesman for Caltech’s seismological laboratory in Pasadena. A recent report by Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey said the fault “produces the greatest number of small earthquakes of all the faults in Southern California.” The quake’s epicenter was more than 100 miles from that of the 5.8 Sierra Madre quake that rocked the Los Angeles Basin on June 28, killing two people, injuring more than 100 and causing more than $30 million in damage.