SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — What shook many across both the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys was felt most violently by neighbors in the Harvest Hills area of Saratoga Springs. It even made some young ones put what they’ve learned in school to use.
“They’ll usually have us go under our desks, cover our noses and our necks,” said Jacklynne Thomas, a student at Harvest Elementary School.
Some of her classmates at Harvest had to do just that, while Thomas and others were out to recess.
“We were playing kickball,” said the fifth-grader. “They kicked the ball and we all just started moving - like really fast.”
It turns out those students were within a mile of the earthquake’s epicenter.
“We got a notification from the elementary school that the kindergartners were scared and crying and were wanting to know how their families were doing,” said parent of three, Josh Kimball.
Kimball was safely working from home - but his home on Verbena Drive was practically on top of the quake.
“I’m sitting down and I’m going like this,” Kimball said as he wobbled from side to side. “It was that much shaking,”
Reactions differed from door to door.
“I’m born and raised in Sandy up on the bench - never experienced anything quite like this,” said Kimball.
“This wasn’t our first rodeo with earthquakes,” said his neighbor, Dallin Hester. “I was in Chile in 2010 when they had the big earthquake [8.8 magnitude].”
Even with the same household, the Hester family had varying experiences.
“Our son actually napped through the whole thing,” said Dallin’s wife, Whitney Hester. “But our daughter got a little scared.”
Plenty were understandably frightened. But Jacklynne Thomas wasn’t one to freak out.
“Well, not for really big ones, but it’s cool just to be like shaking around without even trying to,” Thomas said. “It’s just kind of cool.”
It just so happens “shaking around” is all this is, according to Dr. Julia Morton, a research scientist with the University of Utah’s Seismograph Stations.
“It’s normal faulting, typical for our area - that’s the type of fault we have,” said Dr. Morton.
She says the 100-plus quakes they’ve tracked in the last two weeks are standard; they see more than 2,000 in a given year. They’re often not even felt, but she says it’s a visceral reminder when they are.
“These earthquakes have been a really good reminder that we are in earthquake country, that we do have earthquakes, and to help prepare for that,” Dr. Morton said.
For more information on the latest tremor, you can visit the official USGS webpage here.
