A video has revealed the violent shaking caused by the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked the West Coast Wednesday.
The footage, taken inside an Oregon resident’s bathroom, shows what appears to be a glass shower door quaking as a loud banging noise is heard, presumably the door slamming against its frame.
After about 20 seconds, both the shaking and banging appear to subside. ‘Oh I’d be scared of the glass breaking. Glad it did not,’ one viewer posted on X.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the massive tremor at 1.15pm local time, with its epicenter located about 170 miles west of Bandon and 250 miles west-southwest of Salem.
The quake caused no injuries or damages, and officials stated that there was no tsunami threat related to this quake.
But more than 75 people reported feeling shaking from the tremblor, which was originally detected as a magnitude 6.1, but has since been downgraded to a 6.0.
According to the USGS Did You Feel It database, the shaking was felt beyond Oregon’s borders, reaching as far as northern Utah and southern California.
The tremor occurred in the Blanco Fracture Zone (BFZ), which experts say is more active than California’s San Andreas Fault.
Harold Tobin, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, shared on Facebook: ‘This is a very typical mag[nitude] 6 earthquake in the Blanco Transform fault, very far offshore of Oregon.’
‘We see at least one such earthquake nearly every year,’ he added.
The video from Oregon, posted on the Meteor News YouTube channel (@meteornews) and X account (@FishNewsChannel), shows the impact of the quake as tremors hit states along the West Coast.
More than 75 people reported feeling shaking from the tremblor, which was originally detected as a magnitude 6.1, but has since been downgraded to a 6.0.
According to the USGS Did You Feel It database, the shaking was felt beyond Oregon’s borders, reaching as far as northern Utah and southern California.
And the trembling might not be over yet.
‘Moderate-to-light aftershocks are likely over the coming days. The event has not prompted any tsunami advisories,’ Crisis 24 reported.
The Blanco Fracture Zone (BFZ) – where this quake originated – is a transform plate boundary, which is where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally.
The BFZ boundary connects the Juan de Fuca ridge with the Gorda rise spreading centers.
This active fault zone starts more than 90 miles off Cape Blanco and extends northwest to about 300 miles off of Newport.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the massive tremor at 1:15pm local time, with its epicenter located about 170 miles west of Bandon and 250 miles west-southwest of Salem
It sits about 275 miles west of Oregon and roughly 200 miles farther west of its infamous neighbor, the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
The Cascadia stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California, and is capable of producing ‘The Big One’ – a hypothetical, but inevitable high-magnitude earthquake that could decimate the West Coast.
Such a quake could generate tsunamis reaching 100 feet high or more, kill more than 10,000 people and cause over $80 billion in damages in Oregon and Washington alone.
But experts consider the BFZ to be more active than the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
The BFZ experienced a swarm of at least nine quakes in 2022, with the strongest reaching a magnitude of 5.6.
The BFZ boundary connects the Juan de Fuca ridge with the Gorda rise spreading centers. Experts consider it more active than the Cascadia Subduction Zone
And the year before, at least 66 hit with two measuring a 5.8-magnitude.
In 2018, the BFZ produced a 6.2-magnitude earthquake off the coast of south-central Oregon, more than 170 miles west of Coos Bay.
And an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 3.5 about two hours later.
The fault has produced over 1,500 earthquakes of 4.0 magnitude or greater since the 1970s, according to Oregon State University.
Washington state emergency management officials posted on social media that it can be scary to see a 6.0 magnitude quake happening near the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
But there is no reason to believe that this quake could trigger The Big One.
Wednesday’s seismic activity came within less than 24 hours of Oregon testing its emergency response to a major earthquake.
Cities, including Portland, conducted the Iron-OR 24, a two-day simulation exercise.
Amanda Westervelt, Operations Coordinator at the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, said: ‘We’re in that timeframe where we could experience another one at any time, so we’re getting ready.’
