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Earthquake Shakes Nevada, Utah and Idaho / Grocery Store Hit Hard By Earthquake In Wells, Nevada (with video)

Ben Winslow, Pat Reavy and Stephen Speckman - Deseret Morning News

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February 21, 2008

WELLS, Nev. — The city of Wells, Nev., and Elko County have declared states of emergency following a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that rocked the city this morning and shook a large portion of the Mountain West.

Photo: Damage in the historic district of downtown Wells, Nevada, as a 6.0 earthquake at 6:16 am PST today. (Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News)

Nevada Division of Emergency Management spokesman Daniel Burns told the Deseret Morning News as of 11 a.m. it was still a "challenging situation."

"We don't know if 25 structures have been damaged or 700," he said. "We've had early reports of both."

Burns said his office had seen photos of buildings that had suffered serious damage. There were also reports of three water main breaks and gas line fires, he said. The city, however, still had electricity and phone service.

"Pat Notestine was beginning her shift at Stuart's Foodtown when the earthquake hit. The ceiling buckled and items flew off the shelves, smashing onto the ground. Signs dropped from the ceiling and she panicked.

"It felt like the end of the world,' she said.

Photo: Damage in the historic district of downtown Wells, Nevada, as a 6.0 earthquake at 6:16 am PST today. (Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News)

Aftershocks that have hit the town have not done anything to ease fears, said Yvonne Stuart, the owner of the town's only grocery store.

Authorities said 25 people have been displaced from their homes but the majority of the damage was confined to the town's historic district. At Wells' Combined School, basketball coach Bob Woolsey said the gym is in danger of collapsing.

Wells Mayor Rusty Tybow said as many as 13 buildings had been severely impacted if not totally destroyed. Inspection teams were also being sent to all of the county's dams and bridges.

"I think everybody in town has been impacted," Tybow said.

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was keeping a very close watch on the situation, Burns said. The first priority for Nevada officials was going door-to-door in the city of 1,600 residents to make sure there were no injuries, Burns said.

"Our highest priority right now is knocking on every door in town," he said. "We want to make sure no one is trapped ... that the refrigerator hasn't fallen on someone and they can't move."

Photo: Wyatt Jarman cleans up Stuart's Foodtown in Wells, Nevada, today. (Laura Seitz, Deseret Morning News)

As of 10:30 a.m., Tybow said there were two people claiming they had suffered minor injuries due to the quake.

A temporary evacuation center was being set up at an LDS Church in Wells.

At 7:16 a.m. the quake, centered 11 miles east of Wells near the Utah-Nevada border, shook a large area in Nevada, Utah and Idaho, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The USGS initially measured the quake at a 6.3 but downgraded it slightly to a 6.0.

Aftershocks from the quake continued for several hours.

"We're on our fifth or sixth aftershock," said Elko County Sheriff Dale Lotspeich.

Photo: Damage in the historic district of downtown Wells, Nevada, as a 6.0 earthquake at 6:16 am PST today. (Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News)

Humberto Cervantes, owner of Better Deal Pawn Shop in Wendover, Utah, was putting on his shoes and getting ready for work when he felt the quake at his apartment near the Wendover airport.

"The whole building was shaking," said Cervantes, who lived in Los Angeles for several years and has plenty of experience with temblors. "It was a little bit strong, even for here."

The shaking lasted about five or six seconds, knocking over a plant and a few knickknacks around Cervantes' home. Following a mild aftershock, he called relatives in Elko, Nev., who reported something odd just prior to the quake.

"The dogs were howling before it happened," one of Cervantes' children in Elko said over the phone.

Cervantes also called a friend who works at the 4 Way Truck Stop in Wells, where Cervantes worked for a while. The word from his old employer was that a ceiling had caved in. Cervantes said the truck stop and adjacent restaurant with "old-style home cooking" are a major employer in Wells.

At a casino just a stone's throw across the state line from the pawn shop, everyone among a bus-load of people outside a casino said they felt the quake. One man was playing the slots when his machine started to shake.

A woman with Peppermill Inc., which operates three casinos in the area, said there was no damage at any of the casinos. She was in a casino basement at the time of the quake.

"It shook everything down here," said Lisa, who, because of company policy, was not allowed to give her last name.

A little farther down the road at the Desert Discount Liquor Store, where there are a lot of bottles on the shelves, not one fell to the ground.

The temblor shook much of the Wasatch Front, although there were no early reports of damage in Utah.

Photo: Damage in the historic district of downtown Wells, Nevada, as a 6.0 earthquake at 6:16 am PST today. (Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News)

Police dispatchers in Ogden, Davis County, and Salt Lake City all said they felt the shaking. Dispatchers in Wendover, Utah said they had received numerous calls from people who felt the shaking but there were no early reports of damage.

Ogden police officer Tim Shelstead was running radar on 7th Street when his car began shaking.

"I thought it was a train going by with no train," he said.

It wasn't until after residents started calling emergency dispatchers and the information was relayed over police radio that he realized it was an earthquake.

The Greater Salt Lake Area Chapter of the American Red Cross sent several volunteers and its Emergency Response Vehicle to Wells.

Five volunteers were dispatched to Nevada from Utah with additional people put on standby, said Red Cross spokeswoman Ashlee Gunter.

The group's Disaster Services trailer is supplied with blankets, cots, food and drinks to provide support to residents and emergency responders.

A radio communications team was also sent to Nevada from the Red Cross.

Also, the Salt Lake County Emergency Operations Center was activated because of the Wells quake.

Unified Fire Authority Capt. Jay Fearnley called it a "very low level" activation, which included planning, information gathering and coordinating with officials in Nevada.

"We're in touch with Wells, Nevada, to find out what kind of damage, to determine if they need any resources from us," he said.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695255091,00.html

www.standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Earth_Changes/080221.NV.6.0.EQ.html

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Grocery Store Hit Hard By Earthquake In Wells, Nevada

The large earthquake hit a grocery store in Wells, Nevada early Thursday throwing many of the products off the shelves and buckling the roof.

A major cleanup operation is underway at Stuart's Grocery store. Workers are pulling loose tiles from the ceiling.  

Officials say they are glad the Wells earthquake happened early in the day with few people inside the store under the falling roof panels.

“I was opening the registers and putting money in the drawers, all the sudden everything started shaking,” said one store worker. “I stared yelling at another worker in the back of the store and she started yelling at me. Then everything started crashing.”

Glass jars shattered on the tile spilling syrup and jelly. A box of nearly everything hit the floor.

“It was emotional and scary,” the worker said. “I have never felt and earthquake before. Everything was falling off the shelves, glass was breaking, and the ceiling tiles were falling down. It was ridiculous, scary.”

The worker said she had no idea where to run to avoid the falling ceiling tile.

The roof is buckled and bent across the inside of the store. The power was out, but workers did a fast clean-up trying to get the store open again.

Fortunately no one was injured inside the store. Estimates of the damage have not been released.

TO VIEW THE EARTHQUAKE VIDEO OF THE GROCERY STORE CLICK ON:

www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e2eec72f-650f-4008-9859-9613d8d4ecb0