Quakes Swarm Hits Western Nevada; Largest Measures 4.5

A swarm of earthquakes struck western Nevada on Wednesday, the largest hitting in mid-afternoon and causing minor damage in government buildings, including the state Capitol, but no injuries.

The biggest and latest temblor hit at 3:16 p.m. and measured magnitude 4.5.

Moments later, Controller Darrel Daines, who has an office on the first floor of the Capitol, said, “I thought the whole building was coming down on me.”

Cracks in the ceiling of the annex to the Capitol were reported, and some plaster fell. There were also reports of cracks in the foundations of some businesses in the area, but the Carson City sheriff’s office said it did not know of any major damage.

Workers on the second floor of the Capitol scurried out of the building. The temblor was felt in Reno, about 35 miles away.

Telephone service was disrupted because of a flood of calls.

But business at the Carson City Nugget, the largest casino in the city, went on with hardly a hitch.

Don Tatro, manager of the club, said most of the slot-machine players stayed in their seats and continued to feed the one-armed bandits.

“A couple of people got up and walked outside but within 10 minutes they were back at the machines,” he said.

Four other smaller earthquakes struck within four hours earlier Wednesday, but caused no injury or damage. The quakes were centered north of Carson City.

A spokesman for the University of Nevada, Reno Seismology Center, said there were a “lot of smaller jolts” after the 4.5 quake.

Telephone calls from jarred residents began flooding the sheriff’s office and the Nevada Highway Patrol at 4:07 a.m. The quakes--and the calls--lasted until 8:30 a.m. They resumed after the afternoon shake.

A spokesman for the seismology laboratory at the university said the initial swarm of quakes ranged in intensity from magnitude 2.7 to 3.5.

Dan Delaplain, an assistant at the lab, said earlier in the day that the epicenter was pinpointed between Carson City and Washoe Lake and that it was “quite shallow.”

That conflicted with a report from the Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., which said the earlier quakes were centered in the south edge of Carson City and that all measured magnitude 3.3.