Strong and shallow M6.5 earthquake hits Nevada, aftershocks reported, U.S.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.5 hit SW Nevada, near the border with California, at 11:03 UTC (04:03 LT) on May 15, 2020. The agency is reporting a depth of 7 km (4 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.4 at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).
The epicenter was located 32 km (20 miles) SE of Mina (population 155) and 181 km (112 miles) ESE of Garnerville Ranchos (population 11 312), Nevada.
There are about 16 000 people living within 100 km (62 miles).
45 000 people are estimated to have felt weak shaking.
The quake was followed by M4.0 at 11:03 UTC, M4.4 at 11:12, M4.9 at 11:18, M5.4 at 11:25, M5.4 at 11:26, M4.3 at 11:30, M3.4 at 11:40, M3.7 at 11:45, M3.1 at 11:47, M4.7 at 11:52, M3.1 at 11:57, M4.5 at 12:00, M2.8 at 12:03, M3.4 at 12:10, M3.1 at 12:12 and M3.0 at 12:13. Data provided by USGS, valid 12:33 UTC.
Image credit: TW/SAM, Google
The USGS issued a green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.
Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are resistant to earthquake shaking, though vulnerable structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are unreinforced brick masonry and reinforced masonry construction.
Recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as landslides that might have contributed to losses.
Estimated population exposure to earthquake shaking
Selected cities exposed
Regional seismicity
Featured image credit: TW/SAM, Google
If you value what we do here, create your ad-free account and support our journalism.
Related articles
Producing content you read on this website takes a lot of time, effort, and hard work. If you value what we do here, select the level of your support and register your account.
Your support makes this project fully self-sustainable and keeps us independent and focused on the content we love to create and share.
All our supporters can browse the website without ads, allowing much faster speeds and a clean interface. Your comments will be instantly approved and you’ll have a direct line of communication with us from within your account dashboard. You can suggest new features and apps and you’ll be able to use them before they go live.
You can choose the level of your support.
Stay kind, vigilant and ready!
You can also support us by sending us a one-off payment using PayPal:
The one that will hit the west coast of the USA in the next a few weeks will much stronger than this one