5.0 Quake Strikes Sparsely Populated Area Near Tahoe

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck in the Sierra on Thursday near Topaz Lake, the strongest of three moderate temblors to occur in the mountains along the California-Nevada border in the last week.

The latest quake, at 10:28 a.m. Thursday, caused no serious damage or injuries.

The state Office of Emergency Services reported that some items fell off shelves near the epicenter, about 30 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe and close to U. S. 395.

David VonSeggern, seismic network manager for University of Nevada at Reno, said the series of jolts that began last Friday with magnitude 4.9 and 4.7 quakes about seven miles away appears to be a new sequence.

They are probably not aftershocks from the nearby magnitude 6.3 earthquake of Sept. 12, 1994, he said.

“These quakes are too large and too late to be aftershocks,” he said. “This appears to be a new sequence.”

Thursday’s quake was strongly felt in Alpine County, the state’s least populous at 1,100 residents.

Alpine County Sheriff Skip Veatch, commander of a force of nine, said he was talking to the dispatcher in his office in the county seat of Markleeville when the quake came.

“It felt like one powerful jolt, and then a rocking back and forth,” he said. “We got a few calls from local residents.”

But Veatch said there is little concern among townspeople about the quakes. Seismic activity has historically been common in the area.

In addition to the two quakes last week, there were several light temblors on Christmas Day, and a few small quakes Thursday after the 5.0 temblor, the sheriff reported.

The larger quake Thursday was felt less strongly in the Lake Tahoe area. “Nothing fell over, there has been no structural damage, but these do get your attention,” said Steve Stroot, a sheriff’s sergeant in South Lake Tahoe.

The official magnitude of Thursday’s quake came from the National Earthquake Information Center at Golden, Colo. But the UC Berkeley seismological station put it at a stronger 5.4. Such discrepancies in early reports are not uncommon.