For the second time this week, Salt Lake Valley was rattled by another sizable aftershock Thursday morning, Apr. 16, 29 days after the massive Utah earthquake.
Another Sizable Aftershock
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the tremor was felt at 7:41 in the morning and registered magnitude 4.2, with the epicenter near the location of the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that happened on Mar. 18--around 2.5 miles northeast of Magna.
Just this Tuesday, Apr. 14, a magnitude 4.17 earthquake was also felt in the area.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), there have been 70 aftershocks since the mainshock happened, recording magnitude 2.5 and more and was clustered around Magna.
Although residents in the area felt like it was abnormal, experts at the University of Utah Seismograph Stations guaranteed them that it's normal and within the normal range of seismic activity that happens after a sizable quake occurs.
"Sometimes earthquakes barely have any aftershocks, and sometimes they have more than average," the experts said through the station's official Twitter account.
"This feels abnormal to us because this is the first time in most of our lives that we've lived near an earthquake sequence like this. But for the earth, this is business as usual," the team added.
Earthquake During the Annual Great Utah ShakeOut
Interestingly enough, the earthquake happened just two hours before the annual Great Utah ShakeOut, a statewide preparedness exercise that was organized by both state and federal agencies wherein citizens can participate in earthquake drills.
Based on the event's website, there are over 650,000 participants that will be coming to the event.
Each year, participants are asked to imagine a massive earthquake during the drill and act as if the threat is real. During the drill, they would have to practice safety precautions, such as how to properly protect yourself when you're trapped in your home or how to evacuate a building properly.
Nevertheless, Joe Dougherty said that they wouldn't have to imagine this year. Dougherty is the spokesman for the Utah Division of Emergency Management, which is among the agencies spearheading the event.
"We've joked for years: 'What if there's a quake on the day of the ShakeOut?'," the spokesman said.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the quarantine taking place, the event will be different compared to past years.
For one, schools are closed.
According to Dogherty, schools are their biggest participants, but for now, agencies are encouraging teachers and parents to conduct virtual earthquake drills and add them to their online lesson plans.
The Utah Quake
The magnitude 5.7 quake that made the earth tremble on Mar. 18 was the first massive earthquake Utah had since 1992, when they experienced a magnitude 5.9 earthquake, according to CNN.
Because of the quake, power was shut, and work was suspended at the state's public health lab amid the coronavirus pandemic. Still, the Department of Health guaranteed there were no samples in the lab during the earthquake, and no samples or laboratory equipment were damaged.
Besides, flights to the Salt Lake International Airport were postponed and diverted so engineers could take a look at any damage and double-check the buildings and facilities.
