Earthquake swarm continues to rattle southeastern Idaho

More than 100 aftershocks have rattled southeastern Idaho since a 5.3 magnitude quake hit near the town of Soda Springs late last week, and experts said they could continue for another week or so.

The 5.3 quake hit was the second in the series, and it hit about 6 p.m. Saturday. There were no reports of injuries or damage, though officials said 17,000 people reported feeling the 5.3 quake from as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah.

Soda Springs resident JoAnna Ashley was in nearby Georgetown visiting her parents when the biggest earthquake hit. She grabbed onto the shaking refrigerator and watched as a bottle of tiki torch fuel perched on top wobbled toward the edge. Her kids, ages 5 and 8, grabbed onto Ashley during the shaking.

“They didn’t scream, but were all, ‘Momma, what’s happening?’ in that worried voice,” Ashley said.

The family spent the rest of the weekend camping, and they eventually started giggling whenever an aftershock would start rocking their camper.

“It kind of became commonplace. You’d be sitting there in the chairs, everyone talking, and all of a sudden you’d start to see the water shaking inside the bottle,” she said.

By noon on Tuesday, more than 102 additional earthquakes had been recorded in the region by the U.S. Geological Survey, all at magnitudes of 4.5 or less.

They’ll likely taper off by the end of next week, said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado. “They can go on for days or weeks, and they’ll get smaller in size and frequency,” Bellini said.

Small magnitude earthquake swarms are common near the fault lines scattered throughout central and southeastern Idaho.