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Colorado Earthquake

August 23, 2011 by · Comments Off on Colorado Earthquake 

Colorado EarthquakeColorado Earthquake, The largest earthquake to strike in almost 40 years Colorado has hit hundreds of people near the border of New Mexico and caused minor damage to some houses.
The 5.3 magnitude earthquake occurred around 23:46 MDT Monday about nine miles southwest of Trinidad, Colo., about 180 miles south of Denver, according to the Earthquake Information Center National Golden, Colorado The earthquake followed by two smaller ones that hit the area that day.

The earthquake is the largest in Colorado since a magnitude 5.7 was recorded in 1973, USA USGS geophysicist said Amy Vaughn. That one was centered in the northwestern part of the state – about 50 miles north of Grand Junction, said.

A few houses have been damaged and there were rockslides in Colorado Highway 12 and Interstate 25, but both roads remained open, an operator of the Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday.

The dispatcher, who only give his name first as Kristina said she was working when the largest earthquake near midnight.

“Everything was shaking, but had no loss of power,” he said.

She said authorities were still trying to assess the damage.

“I thought maybe a car had beaten my house,” said 70-year-old resident of Trinidad Nadine Baca. “Then I called my son and told me it was the third (earthquake) today.”

Another USGS geophysicist, Shengzao Chen said the information center had received calls from more than 70 people in Trinidad and several dozen people in New Mexico, who felt the tremor. More than 30 people in Colorado Springs, about 130 miles north of Trinidad, also reported feeling the quake, he said.

A magnitude 4.6 quake was felt in the same area at 5:30 pm on Monday, and an earthquake magnitude 2.9, occurred just before 8 am Two aftershocks – which is recorded at 3.5 and another of 3.8 – continued Tuesday morning, more than an hour after the earthquake of 5.3.

The last time the area received a series of earthquakes was in August and September 2001, when about a dozen smaller quakes were recorded, said Chen. “The area appears to be active again,” he said.

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