Reno urged to prepare after city's strongest quake since 1953

Scientists are urging Reno residents to prepare for a bigger event as the city keeps rumbling after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long sequence of temblors.

More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the west edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit at 11:40 last night, the strongest quake around Reno since a 5.2 temblor in 1953.

The latest quake emptied store shelves, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides. But there were no reports of major damage or injuries.

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno's seismological laboratory say the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks.

Seismological lab director John Anderson says a magnitude 6 quake would not be a surprise and he hopes residents are taking the threat seriously after last night's quake.

But Anderson stresses that there's no way to predict what will happen, and the sequence of temblors also could end without a major quake.

Reno's last major quake measured 6.1 on April 24, 1914, and was felt as far away as Berkeley, Calif.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Friday night's quake was centered around Mogul, just west of Reno.

Hundreds of mostly minor quakes have occurred along one or possibly more faults since the sequence of temblors began Feb. 28.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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