A sizable aftershock rocked the Salt Lake Valley on Sunday evening, four days after a powerful earthquake damaged a number of homes, churches, businesses and historic buildings.
The jolt measured magnitude 4, according to the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, at 7:17 p.m. about 3 miles northeast of Magna. It later was adjusted to 3.94.
There were no immediate reports of damage, but there was plenty of buzz from rattled Utahns, coping with the coronavirus pandemic and the wave of aftershocks since Wednesday’s magnitude 5.7 quake — the largest on record in the Salt Lake Valley.
“We expect to have a number of magnitude 4 aftershocks,” the Utah Division of Emergency Management tweeted. “Overall, there have been very few of these. Most are M3 or less. These aftershocks don’t mean they are getting bigger, just that we will have some M4s in the mix.”
Sunday evening’s temblor was the third strongest since the initial earthquake.
“While larger magnitude aftershocks will become less frequent with time,” the U. Seismograph Stations tweeted, “it is not unusual to have these larger M4 aftershocks, especially within the first week or two following an M5.7 mainshock.”
On Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey lowered the likelihood — already relatively low — in the next week of another temblor greater than magnitude 5.7 to less than 1%.
Residents can expect scores of more aftershocks, though the “felt” ones, Utah Division of Emergency Management noted, “are getting more and more spread out.”
