EVANSTON, Wyo. — Whether you felt the earthquake or not, Thursday's tremor was the talk of the town in Evanston, Wyoming, located about 25 miles away from its epicenter.
"I actually got a notification on my Ring, it said that there was a 4.7 earthquake south of Evanston," said resident Anahi Escalante.
Many in the small railroad town said they felt the quake, including Cameron Jones and his dad, Bill, at The Pie Hole, the family's bakery on Main Street.
"It was just a normal morning, I was getting ready to get up, take the garbage out," said Bill. "My wife got up and was taking a shower, and I was looking at my phone, and all of a sudden, it was like somebody hit my bed!"
"I was in our front room at our house, and I was talking to my sons and felt a slight rumble on the floor and asked the boys, 'Do you feel that?" Cameron added. "And the pictures were slightly shaking, making a little bit of noise, and they said, 'Oh, it's just a truck driving by.'"
University of Utah Seismograph Station directors discuss Thursday's earthquake:
Despite the quake being felt across northern Utah and the Wasatch Front, some people close to the epicenter in Evanston surprisingly didn't feel a thing.
"Yeah, I didn't hear nothing, and normally I'm pretty aware of everything around me," said Mike Torretto.
"It was small enough that if you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't have felt it, I don't think," said Bill Jones, who has lived in town since 1980.
Escalante was glad she didn't feel it — she still remembers being in Utah when the 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit the Magna area in 2020.
"It was really scary. I was living in like a 6-story apartment, and it was just like going, swaying, side to side, and I was like, not for me," she said, recalling that day.
Thursday's earthquake was not as destructive as the one five years ago, and no one I spoke with saw or heard about any damage.
"It wasn't really a big one," said Bill Jones. "Mother Nature just did a fluffy."
Even with its small size, Thursday's earthquake is already helping people focus on what they need to do to prepare for the next one, which could be the big one.
"Am I ready for this if it was bigger?" asked Cameron. "We do have some food storage, but would it be enough if the power went out, or utilities were cut off?"
