Southeastern Idaho rocked by nearly 80 earthquakes in the past two days - and the swarm doesn't show signs of stopping

  • Nearly 80 earthquakes have hit southeastern Idaho since Saturday night 
  • The second tremor, which occurred around 6pm Saturday, was the strongest at a magnitude of 5.3 
  • Since then, most of the tremors have been between 2 and 4 on the Richter scale
  • The most recent quake happened Monday morning around 6am 
  • Locals say this is by far the largest earthquake swarm the area has seen
  • Recent swarms have only been around three total earthquakes  

By Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

Southeastern Idaho has been hit by nearly 80 earthquakes since Saturday, by far the largest earthquake swarm the area has seen in recent memory, according to local officials. 

The earth started moving Saturday evening around 6pm, when the first quakes were felt in an area east of Soda Springs. 

The second tremor has been the biggest so far, a magnitude 5.3 on the Richter scale.

Since then, dozens of quakes have been felt in the small, 140-square-mile area, most registering between 2 and 4 on the Richter scale. 

Southeastern Idaho has been rocked by nearly 80 earthquakes since Saturday night 

Southeastern Idaho has been rocked by nearly 80 earthquakes since Saturday night 

The largest earthquake happened Saturday evening around 6pm and was a magnitude 5.3 on the Richter scale (it's seen above in blue)

The largest earthquake happened Saturday evening around 6pm and was a magnitude 5.3 on the Richter scale (it's seen above in blue)

And the earthquake swarm doesn't show signs of stopping. Earthquake swarms can last for weeks and even months. 

The most recent quake was felt Monday morning around 6am local time. 

So far, Caribou County officials say they haven't received any reports of injuries in the earthquakes or damage to buildings. 

However, people as far away as Salt Lake City have been feeling the tremors and a 5.3 earthquake is large enough to cause damage to buildings. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, some 17,000 people have felt the quakes. The quakes were picked up by the University of Utah seismograph stations

The earthquakes have left the community shaken in more ways than one. 

Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen says he's been a police officer in the area for over 40 years and he doesn't remember an earthquake swarm this large. 

Usually there might be one to three earthquakes that happen in quick succession, but nothing involving dozens of quakes. 

'I've never seen anything like this,' Nielsen told the Idaho State Journal. 'My wife asked if we should leave the house.'  

Tom Beiriger was at home in Pocatello when one of the quakes hit. 

'It wasn't real big but I did feel it absolutely. It was quiet started to rock back and forth stopped for a second and a half. Did it again for another second and a half and that was it...' Beiriger told KPVI.  

The ongoing swarm is even stranger considering Idaho is rarely associated with earthquakes.

The Saturday evening quake was 6.2 miles deep. The tremors of the earthquake were felt as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah, nearly 200 miles away

The Saturday evening quake was 6.2 miles deep. The tremors of the earthquake were felt as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah, nearly 200 miles away

Within the past year, there has been a reported 301 earthquakes in the state, which range in magnitude, according to Earthquake Track.

This is minimal when compared to the Los Angeles and Southern California area, which has had more than 3,000 quakes in that same time frame.

Idaho is relatively close to Yellowstone National Park, around 165 miles away, and the park has a supervolcano underneath it, reported RT News .

Since June, Yellowstone has been rocked by a record-breaking 2,300 earthquakes.

As of August 30, 2,357 earthquakes had been recorded, with the most powerful a 3.3 magnitude event on August 21, according to Newsweek.

Most of the earthquakes were in the magnitude 0 or 1 range, with a further 181 recorded at magnitude 2 and 11 at magnitude 3.

Another 53 were less than 0, meaning they were very small events that could be detected only with sensitive earthquake-monitoring instruments.

Very few of these quakes at the national park are even felt.

Hidden beneath Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano, capable of blasting over 1,000 cubic kilometres of rock and ash into the air, and plunging Earth into darkness

Yellowstone National Park has been hit by more than 1,200 earthquakes in the span of just a month, seismologists say. The Grand Prismatic hot spring (pictured, stock image) is among the park's many hydrothermal features created by the supervolcano

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