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Reno Urged to Prepare for Big Quake
By MARTIN GRIFFITH,AP
Posted: 2008-04-26 22:30:16
Filed Under: Nation News, Natural Disaster, Science News
RENO, Nev. (April 26) -
Scientists urged Reno residents to prepare for a bigger event as the city kept rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long sequence of temblors. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the west edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit at 11:40 p.m. Friday, the strongest quake around Reno since a 5.2 temblor in 1953, said researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno's seismological laboratory.
More than 100 aftershocks on Saturday have experts worried that a larger quake may be brewing.
The latest quake emptied store shelves, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides. But there were no reports of major damage or injuries.
Seismologists said the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks.
"A magnitude 6 quake wouldn't be a scientific surprise," John Anderson, director of the seismological lab in Reno, said Saturday. "We certainly hope residents are taking the threat seriously after last night."
But Anderson stressed there was no way to predict what would happen, and the sequence of temblors also could end without a major quake.
Reno's last major quake measured 6.1 on April 24, 1914, and was felt as far away as Berkeley, Calif., said Craig dePolo, research geologist with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.
A rockslide triggered by Friday night's quake was blamed for causing a 125-foot breach in a wooden flume that carries water to one of Reno's two water treatment plants.
By MARTIN GRIFFITH,AP
Posted: 2008-04-26 22:30:16
Filed Under: Nation News, Natural Disaster, Science News
RENO, Nev. (April 26) -
Scientists urged Reno residents to prepare for a bigger event as the city kept rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long sequence of temblors. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the west edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit at 11:40 p.m. Friday, the strongest quake around Reno since a 5.2 temblor in 1953, said researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno's seismological laboratory.
More than 100 aftershocks on Saturday have experts worried that a larger quake may be brewing.
The latest quake emptied store shelves, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides. But there were no reports of major damage or injuries.
Seismologists said the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks.
"A magnitude 6 quake wouldn't be a scientific surprise," John Anderson, director of the seismological lab in Reno, said Saturday. "We certainly hope residents are taking the threat seriously after last night."
But Anderson stressed there was no way to predict what would happen, and the sequence of temblors also could end without a major quake.
Reno's last major quake measured 6.1 on April 24, 1914, and was felt as far away as Berkeley, Calif., said Craig dePolo, research geologist with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.
A rockslide triggered by Friday night's quake was blamed for causing a 125-foot breach in a wooden flume that carries water to one of Reno's two water treatment plants.