SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 20, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in the aftermath of the 5.7 magnitude quake which rocked the Wasatch Front Wednesday morning.
“I’m tremendously proud of how first responders and officials on the city, county and state levels worked together to respond to Wednesday’s earthquake,” Herbert said.
“We are grateful that we had no major injuries and no fatalities as a result of this quake, but now we need to focus on helping our communities repair damages.”
Herbert’s executive order references damage sustained in multiple counties on the Wasatch Front. Declaring an emergency will make it easier for those communities to access both state and federal resources.
While the damage from the 5.7 magnitude quake was a far cry from what’s expected when the overdue “Big One” hits along the Wasatch Front, the seismic event was violent.
Houses and buildings shook from one end of the Salt Lake Valley to the other, with the quake being felt as far south as Spanish Fork and as far north as Evanston, Wyoming.
Brick facades crumbled into the streets in downtown Magna and Salt Lake City.
A ruptured water line and damaged control tower combined to close Salt Lake International.
On the Valley’s far west side 48 mobile homes had to be condemned after being knocked from their foundations.
Tens of thousands of other households were suddenly without power.
In the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, the Angel Moroni, standing atop the LDS Salt Lake Temple, was damaged along with some stone spires.
The governor’s declaration also takes into account the strain communities are feeling as they cope with the spread of COVID-19. Herbert says as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, those municipalities are already turning to the state for assistance, many of them having declared their own states of emergency.
Herbert’s official emergency declaration is below:
