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MAGNA — Months after experiencing a magnitude 5.7 earthquake — Utah’s largest in 28 years — residents in Magna were shaken late Friday night by another aftershock, officials said.
“It’s not unheard of to have small aftershocks even after almost seven months,” the Utah Division of Emergency Management said on Twitter.
“You can go back to bed now if you felt that magnitude 2.4 earthquake a few minutes ago. Chances are most didn’t notice it though,” the division said Friday night.
The earthquake — which was downgraded to magnitude 2.3 — happened at 11:18 p.m. about 3 miles east of Magna, University of Utah seismograph stations officials reported.
“Today’s aftershock was felt by hundreds of residents of the Salt Lake Valley. To date, the University of Utah seismograph stations have located 2,498 aftershocks from the March 18 earthquake, including 115 of magnitude 2.3 or larger and 40 of magnitude 3.0 and larger,” university scientists said in a statement.
Recently, an average of one aftershock smaller than magnitude 2.0 has occurred each day in the area. The original 5.7 earthquake in March rattled homes from southern Idaho to Millard County in central Utah, causing serious damage to multiple buildings and temporarily displacing some residents.
“Aftershock activity is expected to continue for months, but with the rate continuing to decrease with time,” according to the seismologists.
