This month, there’s been a significant increase in earthquake activity across the U.S. Northern California experienced a sizable quake, followed by another major one in Alaska. Now, nine U.S. states have been shaken by earthquakes simultaneously.
This past weekend, nine states—California, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Texas, Kansas, Alaska, New Mexico, and Washington—felt tremors at the same time.
These quakes followed a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Northern California that triggered a tsunami warning. It’s a concerning time for people living near fault lines.
A photo showing the locations of the earthquakes that hit the U.S. over the weekend reveals how widespread the tremors were.
Nine states were impacted at once.
Some may worry that the rise in earthquake activity signals a larger earthquake coming, but experts say this is normal.
“A temporary increase or decrease in seismicity is part of the normal fluctuation of earthquake rates,” a USGS spokesperson explained to Newsweek. “Neither an increase nor decrease worldwide is a positive indication that a large earthquake is imminent.”
Thankfully, none of the earthquakes that struck this weekend were strong enough to cause damage. They ranged from 3.0 to 4.0 magnitude, according to reports.
“Looking at earthquake data from the past 30 days, after California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Texas, and Oklahoma had the most frequent quakes,” Newsweek noted.
“Over the last week, the strongest quakes were in California and Nevada. As for the quakes on Friday morning, they likely weren’t strong enough to cause damage.”
Even so, stay safe, everyone. Be sure to have an earthquake plan ready.
