Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Quakes shake U. Nevada campus
By Staff Report
Sagebrush U. Nevada-Reno
April 29, 2008

Gov. Jim Gibbons will visit the University of Nevada, Reno Tuesday to address the recent spat of earthquakes in the Reno area, according to the Nevada Bureau of Mines.

Gibbons will be in the Scrugham Engineering/Mines building at 2 p.m.

UNR Police Chief Adam Garcia also said he is working with university officials to develop a detailed response plan in case the university sustains damage in the event of a major tremor.

"I’m doing what I can to protect this campus," Garcia said Monday.

The most recent earthquake, a 4.2, happened around 4 a.m. Monday. The epicenter was near Mogul, Nev., west of Reno.

A 4.7 tremblor hit Friday, at 11:38 p.m. Friday near Mogul.

Three other earthquakes from 3.0 to 4.2 magnitudes struck the Somersett and Mogul area Thursday afternoon, shaking the university and Reno area.

There have been dozens of smaller earthquakes recorded since Thursday, and hundreds recorded since the shaking started in February.

The university sustained no damage in light of the earthquakes, university police said.

The 4.7 earthquake Friday was the strongest felt in Reno since a string of earthquakes began in February, said Diane Depolo, a network seismologist from the UNR Seismology Laboratory.

“We do live in earthquake country,” she said. “People in (the Sommersett and Mogul areas) are feeling them on a daily basis and they’re getting nervous.”

The recent earthquakes have been centralized in the Mogul area, worrying locals who are wondering if Reno is in for a more devastating earthquake.

Regardless of the activity, no one can predict if there will be more activity and at what magnitude, Depolo said.

According to the Nevada Earthquake Safety Council, “We are due for a 6.0 or greater earthquake.”

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