5.7 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Utah

At 7:09 a.m., Magna was hit by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, it was the state’s largest since a 1992 earthquake in St. George. The last Salt Lake County earthquake of at least a magnitude 5 was in 1962.

The earthquake has caused only a few minor injuries – no serious injuries have been reported. However, the earthquake has caused damage to downtown buildings and even the Salt Lake Temple. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that there are power outages, gas leaks, and a chemical spill at Kennecott.

https://twitter.com/EvanJamesCarter/status/1240657994939056128

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter of the earthquake was northeast of Magna. “Dozens of aftershocks followed, with the strongest being a magnitude 4.6,” reported The Salt Lake Tribune. Keith Koper, director of the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, said: “As we go forward, we expect we’re going to continue to have some of these aftershocks like we’ve been seeing.”

There have also been rumors about another big earthquake – but that is not true. The Utah Emergency Management tweeted: “There are rumors out there that earthquakes can be predicted. They cannot be predicted, however, we expect that the earthquake we felt today was the largest one of the sequence. That is true in 95% of earthquakes.” Koper said his team is not predicting any large earthquake.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s aftershock forecast, a magnitude 7 is a 1 in 300 chance, while a 6 is a 3% likelihood. A magnitude 5 or higher is a 17% chance.