5.4 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Oil-Producing Area In US’s Texas

A a lot smaller tremor of magnitude 3.3 adopted three minutes after the primary shake.

Washington:

A 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck an oil-producing area of west Texas on Friday, rattling constructions however inflicting no obvious injury, US authorities mentioned.

The earthquake hit at 5:35 pm native time (2335 GMT) 22 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Midland at a depth of about eight kilometers, the US Geological Survey mentioned.

A a lot smaller tremor of magnitude 3.3 adopted three minutes after the primary shake, the USGS mentioned.

Preliminary information from the USGS reviews the earthquake was a magnitude 5.3 centered 12 miles to the NNW of Midland with a depth of three miles. This is able to be the 4th strongest earthquake in Texas state historical past! #txwx#earthquake

— NWS Midland (@NWSMidland) December 16, 2022

“This is able to be the 4th strongest earthquake in Texas state historical past!” the Midland workplace of the Nationwide Climate Service tweeted.

Whereas average, the earthquake was felt over a big space, from as far north as Lubbock, close to the Texas Panhandle, to Odessa, 20 miles southwest of Midland, tweeted Jacob Riley, meteorologist at tv station KLBK in Lubbock.

Friday’s quake got here precisely a month after one other, barely much less sturdy, earthquake hit the Pecos space of west Texas, simply south of the New Mexico border. It prompted no injury.

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