Earthquake cluster shakes off the Oregon coast — including two 5.9-magnitude quakes
A cluster of earthquakes shook off the Oregon coast Friday morning included two 5.9- magnitude quakes, geologists said.
At least five earthquakes were reported between 88 and 100 miles from Gold Beach, Oregon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The largest were two 5.9-magnitude earthquakes. The first one struck at 12:52 a.m. Pacific Time, and a second 5.9-magnitude quake began at 1:17 a.m.
The smallest earthquake was a 3.2-magnitude shaker at 2:20 a.m., according to USGS.
The National Weather Service said there is no tsunami risk expected from the 5.9-magnitude earthquakes.
Tsunami Info Stmt: M5.9 145mi NW Eureka, California 0117PDT Jun 4: Tsunami NOT expected
#NTWC— NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) June 4, 2021
Few people have reported feeling the earthquakes because they were far off the coast. Only about a dozen people have reported feeling the quakes to USGS.
Still, people on social media were surprised to see two large earthquakes back-to-back off the coast and wondered if it’s an indication for an even bigger earthquake to come.
Whoa! A second one 30 minutes later! USGS have 5.9 for both. Nr. 2 looks a little bigger to me but you need to average over many stations to get a good magnitude estimate. (Earthquakes look bigger on some stations than others) #Oregon coast #earthquakehttps://t.co/VqSN7eTLFu https://t.co/aibKeoYWF6 pic.twitter.com/H02hhKYjJl
— Dr. Steven J. Gibbons (@stevenjgibbons) June 4, 2021
This might not be great.
Fair ways from us but that fault is sketchy lol.
Just had two back to back earthquakes off Oregon coast in a somewhat fun fault.
5.8 and 5.9....
hoping this isn't a precursor to a larger quake. #earthquakes #Oregon
Any followers from Oregon? pic.twitter.com/Y2Swp1W9Sm— 1RoguePoet (@1RoguePoet) June 4, 2021
#Earthquake off the Oregon coast.
Next Cascadia quake: pic.twitter.com/HReK15A5oU— Ghosthorse Dentist (@GhostHDentist) June 4, 2021
A similar earthquake cluster occurred at the end of April when seven quakes with magnitudes between 3.8 and 5.4 struck off the Oregon coast.
Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey says. It replaced the old Richter scale.
Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech.
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