M6.5 quake shakes central Idaho

Jackie DewolfeGeology, Recent earthquakes

Should Utah be concerned? Not about this one.

But we should still be prepared in general.

Utahns are reporting shaking as far south as Salt Lake County. And reports continue to roll in from around northern Utah. Utah is not expected to have any damage from shaking from this quake.

The University of Utah Seismograph stations tweeted that they expect this earthquake released about 16 times more energy than the Magnitude 5.7 earthquake Utah experienced March 18, 2020.

Our officials are monitoring the situation.

The U.S. Geological Survey has the latest information about the earthquake’s details at its website. They are reporting aftershocks of M4.6 and M3.6 and M3.4.

It’s not unusual for Utahns to feel earthquakes originating in other states, since earthquakes don’t exactly respect borders. But shaking from this earthquake is not likely to cause extra earthquakes in Utah. It’s also not expected to affect the seismicity of Yellowstone National Park, though according to USGS, light shaking was probably felt there.

Dr. Lucy Jones, probably the most notable seismologist in the United States, tweeted that the “Idaho quake is not Yellowstone It is over 200 miles away. Eruptions only happen when the magma moves from a chamber to the surface – and the small shaking from a quake that far away doesn’t suddenly set all the magma moving.”

We asked Twitter followers if they felt the shaking in Utah, and many had.

Of course, even though Utah doesn’t expect damage from the quake, there may still be some shaken nerves. Please be kind and hear out your friends who may be dealing with earthquake anxiety.

As we are all aware, Utah is also earthquake country. Please consider emergency preparedness actions you can take by visiting BeReadyUtah.gov.


Joe Dougherty is the public information officer for the Utah Division of Emergency Management. [email protected]