Residents in Nevada awoke to a powerful 6.5 magnitude earthquake that struck an isolated part of the state.
The earthquake’s epicenter was about 35 miles outside the town of Tonopah, known for the U.S. Air Force’s Tonopah Test Range where the U.S. has tested experimental aircraft. The test range is 70 miles from Area 51, a classified Nevada base long rumored to be a home for extraterrestrial life.
It is not immediately clear how much damage was done by the quake, although residents in California and as far as Utah reported that they felt shaking. Graham Kent, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, told the New York Times that the area has not experienced a quake of this size in 66 years.
“All of a sudden, we have a big earthquake,” Kent said in a telephone interview on Friday. “The most interesting piece of this puzzle is that in Nevada, we have not had an earthquake of this magnitude since 1954. Sooner or later, Mother Nature is going to catch up.”
Videos of shaking homes were posted on social media following the temblor and the subsequent aftershocks.
I live in downtown Reno on the 12th floor. Everything was violently shaking for about a minute. Here is my chandelier several minutes after the fact. pic.twitter.com/Ne6udcgqu5
— Candace (@killacandace) May 15, 2020
Check this out, my chandelier was swinging so hard that it was hitting the pipes in my loft in the Pacific Southwest building. This was filmed moments after the earthquake hit! https://t.co/HgOKm0WxK3 pic.twitter.com/ygv7vFeyAo
— LanceCardoza (@CardozaLance) May 15, 2020
