BOISE, Idaho — More than 100 aftershocks have rattled southeastern Idaho since a 5.3 magnitude quake hit near the town of Soda Springs late last week, and experts say they could continue for another week or so.
The 5.3 quake hit was the second in the series, and it hit about 6 p.m. Saturday. There were no reports of injuries or damage, though officials say 17,000 people reported feeling the 5.3 quake from as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah.
Soda Springs resident JoAnna Ashley was in nearby Georgetown visiting her parents when the biggest earthquake hit. She grabbed onto the shaking refrigerator and watched as a bottle of tiki torch fuel perched on top wobbled toward the edge. Her kids, ages 5 and 8, grabbed onto Ashley during the shaking.
The family spent the rest of the weekend camping, and they eventually started giggling whenever an aftershock would start rocking their camper.
By noon on Tuesday, more than 102 additional earthquakes had been recorded in the region by the U.S. Geological Survey, all at magnitudes of 4.5 or less.
They’ll likely taper off by the end of next week, said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. “They can go on for days or weeks, and they’ll get smaller in size and frequency,” Bellini said.
Small magnitude earthquake swarms are common near the fault lines scattered throughout central and southeastern Idaho.
“Do we expect a larger one? No, we don’t,” said Bellini, though he noted that forecasting earthquake risk can be difficult.
“You don’t have earthquakes every day like in California — they’re feel-able just a few times a year in Idaho,” he said. “It’s harder to make generalizations like that in areas that don’t have as much seismicity. Idaho has had larger earthquakes in the past, but how often they repeat is not known.”
Lee Liberty, a research professor with Boise State University’s Department of Geosciences, says Idaho experiences earthquakes of a magnitude 5 or above on average about every five years, based on news reports and other records dating back to 1872. They don’t happen like clockwork, however, Lee said.
“This is the largest event since 1983,” Liberty said, referring to Idaho’s biggest recorded quake a 6.9 temblor, was recorded on Oct. 28, 1983.
