At 5:52 p.m. Tuesday, Idaho and states throughout the Northwest were rattled by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, according to the USGS. The USGS reports that the epicenter was west of Challis and 73.3 miles north of Meridian.
According to the USGS map, the epicenter of the earthquake was next to Shake Creek and Laidlow Creek in the north-central Idaho mountains.
The USGS had a delay in reporting the earthquake because of social distancing, according to Paul Bodin, the head of the University of Washington seismology lab, who talked to our sister station in Seattle, KING.
People in six different states reportedly felt the 6.5 magnitude earthquake, according to the USGS’s intensity map.
A 6.5 magnitude earthquake in central Idaho was reportedly felt in Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada, according to the USGS “Did you feel it” map.
“We don’t hear that much about Idaho earthquakes because they are fairly unusual,” Bodin said. “The last one that was this big was back in 1983. It was in Borah Peak.”
The earthquake came less than two weeks after a major quake rattled Utah, Idaho’s neighbor to the south. That 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck just outside Salt Lake City, damaging buildings and spurring evacuations.
The USGS said the earthquake’s depth was 10 kilometers.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean tweeted out “Boise, yes you did feel an #earthquake. City officials are checking all our facilities and public safety officers are conducting structural checks downtown and in our neighborhoods.”
Dylan Mikesell, an associate geoscience professor at Boise State University said, “For an earthquake of this size, we can expect to feel some aftershocks for the next week and they should taper off. Probably something similar to what Salt Lake is experiencing in terms of aftershocks.”
4.6, 3.4, and 3.6-magnitude aftershocks were felt after the earthquake throughout Boise and the Treasure Valley.
KTVB contacted several gas stations in Challis, Stanley, and Cascade and they said there was no severe damage to buildings or property there.
» Source