5.0 Quake Hits Baja Desert Area

ENSENADA, Mexico — An earthquake measuring at least 5.0 on the Richter scale struck a remote desert area of the Baja California peninsula today, rattling Southern California but causing no injury or damage, officials said.

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colo., recorded the tremor at a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 at 5:17 a.m. about 45 miles east of Ensenada, agency spokesman Don Finley said in Washington. The quake, with an epicenter about 125 miles south of the border, was felt throughout San Diego County and as far north as Orange County, Finley said.