Moderate Earthquake Near San Diego

MOUNT LAGUNA – A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude estimated at 4.2 hit below Mount Laguna at 8:32 a.m. today, automated seismographs report.

The USGS placed the epicenter in the Laguna Mountains, 14 miles northeast of Pine Valley and 14 miles south-southeast of Julian. The epicenter was also estimated to be 48 miles east northeast of downtown San Diego.

San Diego County sheriff’s Lt. Harold Turner said dispatchers did not get any phone calls about the quake, one of hundreds that have rattled the East County in recent months.

The owner of the Pine Valley Inn said he was driving and did not feel it. But Ray Abdou said a guest said “it was pretty stout. It shook the building pretty good.”