Earthquakes rattling Eastern Idaho are aftershocks from earlier quake

All of these recent earthquakes have many wondering if they’ll stop and why are they happening so often?

Earthquakes have shaken Southeastern Idaho almost non-stop since last weekend’s magnitude 5.3 earthquake near Soda Springs. But these aren’t typical earthquakes.

“What we’re experiencing now is a whole series of aftershocks,” Dr. Shannon Nawotniak, Assistant Professor of Geosciences at ISU, said. “All these small earthquakes that follow a main quake, and all of the rocks, effectively, just settling into a new position.”

And these aftershocks can stick around for a while.

“We should go through about 90 percent or so of aftershocks within two weeks,” Nawotniak said. “That will still give us some that will continue out for time for just a little bit.”

Dr. Nawotniak says residents shouldn’t be worried. But because of the seismically active mountains in the region, they should always be prepared for an earthquake.

“All of us living out here should make sure that we review our earthquake safety, know what to do incase of an event,” Nawotniak said. “So that we’re safe, our family’s safe, minimize any danger.

The Soda Springs region has seen dozens of aftershocks in the past week, including a 4.6 on Sunday.