The University of Utah Health Department released a statement Wednesday afternoon about aftershocks amid rumors that Utah could see another earthquake.
The university statement reads:
“Based on past earthquake sequences around the world there is a small, about one in 20, chance of an earthquake larger than M 5.7 in the Salt Lake Valley area during the next week. Although it is possible that a larger earthquake in this area could be in the magnitude range of 7.0 to 7.5, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the chance of an earthquake of this size is about one in 300. Earthquakes of magnitude larger than 7.5 are unlikely to occur in Utah. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake is not possible in Utah.”
The statement comes after social media rumors suggested a second big earthquake would hit Utah on Wednesday. As the Deseret News reported, the Utah Division of Emergency Management said rumors of an earthquake prediction were “not true.
- The division said: “We’re here to stop rumors. People have been saying that officials are predicting an earthquake in the next 30 minutes. This is not true. Earthquakes cannot be predicted. We are 95% certain that this was the main shock.”
Keith Koper, a University of Utah geology and geophysics professor, told the Deseret News that predictions aren’t easy to make.
- “It is not imminent that there is another large earthquake to come,” he said. “Do not expect a much larger earthquake. Do not expect a magnitude 7.”
- “But the fact is, we can’t and we don’t predict earthquakes,” he said.