A 3.9 magnitude earthquake hit just outside of Utah’s capital city Thursday morning.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the tremor at 6:11am ET, with the epicenter located in Independence, about 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.
More than 2,200 people within a 45-mile radius reported feeling the shaking.
The epicenter sits on top of the Wasatch Fault, which is one of the most active and studied fault systems in the US.
The Wasatch Fault is capable of producing a magnitude 7.5 earthquake.
Locals have shared their experiences on social media, with many saying their homes shook for a few seconds during the quake.
Dr Darby Bailey from Draper said she felt the initial earthquake and several other ‘small rolling aftershocks.’
No injuries or damages have been reported.
A 3.9 magnitude earthquake hit just outside of Utah’s capital city Thursday morning
The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the tremor (large orange circle) at 6:11am ET, with the epicenter located in Independence, about 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City
Residents from Ogden to Spanish Fork reported feeling weak to light shaking from Thursday’s earthquake, which struck at a depth of roughly seven miles, according to the USGS.
Tremors were also felt in Draper, Provo, Lehi, and West Jordan.
The quake occurred along the Wasatch Fault, a 220-mile-long fault system stretching from southern Idaho to northern Utah.
Known formally as the Wasatch Fault Zone (WFZ), the system consists of a series of fault segments rather than a single continuous break.
A report from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute outlines a worst-case scenario: a magnitude 7.0 earthquake along the Salt Lake City segment of the fault.
‘The entire Salt Lake Valley and surrounding areas will experience strong to severe shaking as the result of a Salt Lake City segment rupture,’ they shared.
The tremore would trigger landslides, rock avalanches and cause the ground to sink.
Salt Lake City is home to more than two million people.
‘An estimated 84,400 households will be displaced with 52,700 individuals seeking shelters,’ researchers said.
More than 2,200 people within a 45-mile radius reported feeling the shaking.
‘Depending on the time of day, there will be an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 deaths. An estimated 7,400 to 9,300 people will be injured and need hospital care. The number of available hospital beds will be reduced from 4,790 to 3,200.’
The report estimated there would be a total economic loss of more than $33 billion.
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Salt Lake in 2020,, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes, shutting down the city’s airport and bringing the light rail system to a halt.
The epicenter was just southwest of Salt Lake City and an estimated 2.76 million residents likely felt the quake, the US Geological Survey reported.
Residents reported feeling shaking across a 100-mile area, with the heaviest impact in Salt Lake County, officials said.
People reported feeling the quake in the neighboring states of Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada.
There were no reports of injuries, but the tremor knocked power to nearly 55,000 homes and businesses, said utility Rocky Mountain Power.
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Salt Lake in 2020,, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes, shutting down the city’s airport and bringing the light rail system to a halt
Debris lays on the ground outside of Cucina Toscana in Salt Lake City, where the quake damaged multiple structures
Property damage was reported at Rescue Mission of Salt Lake City, where a wall collapsed, sparking an evacuation, reported KTVX.
The USGS reported said the earthquake hit at 7.09am about 2.5 miles north of Magna, a township in Salt Lake County located about 10 miles away from Salt Lake City, at a depth of 6 miles.
At least six aftershocks were recorded in the immediate aftermath of the main quake, and more were expected throughout the day.
The quake damaged the Angel Moroni statue atop Salt Lake Temple, the Mormon Church’s largest, knocking a trumpet from the angel’s hand. A church spokesman also said some of the temple’s smaller spire stones were displaced, according to the Deseret News.
In Herriman, just south of the capital Salt Lake City, bricks from the facade of the Silver Crest Elementary School fell in front of the main entrance.
Cracks appeared in the brick facade of a Salt Lake City bank building, and rubble appeared on the sidewalk in front of an unoccupied building under construction, social media images showed.
