Highlighting just how vulnerable the United States is to a Nepal style disaster, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Nevada on Friday near the small town of Caliente, just northeast of the tourist hub of Las Vegas. The relatively mild quake was followed by a series of aftershocks, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Saturday.
The epicenter was 24 miles from Caliente, a town of just over 1,000 people, close to the border with Utah.
The earthquake had been felt widely across the county, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
The quake could be felt as far away as Las Vegas, about 100 miles to the southwest.
The initial earthquake was followed by a smaller 3.8 magnitude temblor, and then by three more aftershocks of magnitudes of 2.5 to 3.4 less than 20 minutes later.
The quake, hitting close to densely populated Las Vegas, shows that even communities not directly on top of fault lines remain vulnerable to sizable natural disasters.
Stay Connected
