Yellowstone Park Is Jarred by Series of Small Earthquakes

A swarm of small earthquakes shook the nation’s oldest national park Monday, rousing tourists but causing no damage or injuries.

The strongest quake was a magnitude 4.4 temblor that struck at 1:03 a.m. It was centered on the northern end of Yellowstone Lake, park spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said.

“That first one woke up most people in the area. It was strongly felt by (Lake Hotel) guests, in particular,” Anzelmo said. “It was pretty much a sleepless night for folks in the Lake-Fishing Bridge area last night.”

Rick Hutchinson, a research geologist with the park, said there were at least six tremors, probably the strongest series of quakes to hit Yellowstone in several years.

Dozens of tourists milled about the lobby and stood outside the century-old Lake Hotel. Some packed their suitcases and drove off.

“I thought the whole building was going to collapse,” said Philomena DeFillipo, 75, a tourist from South Plainfield, N.J. “It was a terrible, terrible feeling.”

“Yellowstone Park as a whole is very frequently subjected to shallow earthquake swarms,” Hutchinson said. “We’re not expecting the really big one they keep talking about for Southern California.”

The biggest earthquake to hit Yellowstone in recent history occurred Aug. 17, 1959, when a magnitude 7.5 tremor triggered landslides in the western section of the park.