M 5.7 in Utah on 18 Mar 2020 13:09 UTC

Event summary

This earthquake can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID EQ 1210508
Earthquake Magnitude: 5.7M
Depth: 10.63 Km
Lat/Lon: 40.7518333 , -112.0775
Event Date: 18 Mar 2020 13:09 UTC
18 Mar 2020 07:09 Local
Exposed Population: About 6000 people in MMI
2500000 people within 100km
Inserted at: 18 Mar 2020 22:27 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
2.2 (United States)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake
(Shakemap)		 GDACS score
U UTAH 1 1
uu60363602 Scaled population (raster) 4.24  
  C1 shakemap -0.59  
  C2 shakemap 0.53  
  Country Vulnerability 0  
  INFORM_normalised 0.65  
Maximum expected impact using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
USA, Utah - Earthquake (ECHO 19 Mar 2020)Thu, 19 Mar 2020 11:03

  • An earthquake of 5.7 M at a depth of 11 km occurred in Utah (USA) on 18 March at 13.09 UTC (7:09 local time). The epicentre was located approximately 5 km north of Magna (a suburb of the capital, Salt Lake City) and 7 km east of the south coast of the Great Salt Lake. The earthquake was followed by a series of aftershocks in the area, the most significant of 4.6 M at a depth of 11 km at 19.12 UTC (13:12 local time).
  • USGS PAGER estimates that up to 139,000 people were exposed to very strong and up to 271,000 people to strong shaking.
  • As of 19 March, no casualties or major damage were reported. Media reports, the temporarily evacuation of several buildings in Salt Lake City during the immediate aftermath, the temporarily closure of the Salt Lake City airport, and power outages for approximately 75,000 customers. 
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

Articles: 220 | About casualties: 5 | Last hour: 0

Magna recovering, assessing damage after 5.7 magnitude earthquake Thre ... Sun, 22 Mar 2020 04:28:00 +0100.

Magna recovering, assessing damage after 5.7 magnitude earthquake By Ashley Imlay, KSL | Updated - Mar. 21, 2020 at 5:06 p.m. | Posted - Mar. 21, 2020 at 2:49 p.m. MAGNA — Three days after it was shaken by Utah’s largest earthquake in near
...(more)
Utah’s quake took its toll on at least 77 historic buildingsSat, 21 Mar 2020 03:47:00 +0100.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Larry Hjalmarson, First United Methodist Church member and maintenance overseer, talks on the phone to the city inspector in the church sanctuary, March 19, 2020. The 115-year-old church's walls separa
...(more)
Salt Lake City’s brick homes withstood quake pretty well, official say ... Sat, 21 Mar 2020 00:06:00 +0100.

Orion Goff, director of building services and civil enforcement at Salt Lake City, estimated that fewer than a dozen of the city’s homes were uninhabitable after Wednesday’s earthquake. Damage “hasn’t been as bad as what I would have expec
...(more)
Earthquake Rattles Millions on Edge Amid Coronavirus ThreatFri, 20 Mar 2020 17:27:00 +0100.

SALT LAKE CITY — With much of normal life at a screeching halt to combat the coronavirus, millions of people in Utah are hunkered down in the safety of their homes. But on Wednesday morning, even that protection felt fragile as an earthquak
...(more)

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (48), (3), NEIC (3), OCHA (1), INGV (1), WMO (1), USGS (5), INFORM (2),