For anyone interested in continuing today's science lesson...
Here is the link for the US Geological Survey's "Latest Earthquakes" map: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ The main shock and its 52 aftershocks (so far) form a distinct cluster to the northeast of Boise. So far it has produced several aftershocks exceeding magnitude 4. By contrast, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Ohio, where I live, was about a M=4 (it was over 100 years ago). Ohio is truly low seismic risk. Pretty much every place west of Denver is high risk. The fortunate thing about this quake was that the epicenter was in a remote, low population density area instead of a major metropolis. Thank goodness for small things. So far I haven't seen any reports of serious injuries or death, and most damage pretty minor!
Really interesting field of study. Appreciate your information about the magnitude comparisons. That whole area of Oregon & Nevada had to be amazing to study.
This is the quake I experienced in Cleveland:
From the Ohio DNR Division of Geologic Survey. I was wrong about the epicenter. It was in Lake County. I was thinking it was under Lake Erie. The magnitude was 4.96 not 4.3.
http://geosurvey.ohiodnr.gov/quakes-1950-to-1999-pgs/northeastern-ohio-january-1986
Northeastern Ohio Quake, January 1986
On January 31, 1986, many northeastern Ohio residents were startled into the realization that this area is seismically active; historically, the region has the second highest frequency of earthquake activity of any area of the state. Only Shelby County and vicinity in western Ohio have experienced more earthquakes in historic times. The 1986 northeastern Ohio earthquake has the distinction of being the most intensively studied Ohio earthquake, the first earth quake in the state for which injuries were recorded, and the nearest earthquake to a nuclear power plant in the United States. The 1986 event ranks as probably the third largest earthquake in Ohio.
...Continues with a lot more information.
The thing that always stuck in my mind was that the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Cleveland, was down for maintenance at the time. It was scheduled to load fuel rods the very next day. Yikes!
