Tourists report quake tremors

Monday, Aug. 2, 1999 | 10:27 a.m.

Las Vegas high-rise casinos were jolted by two moderate earthquakes 130 miles northwest of Las Vegas on Sunday, the strongest since 1992.

No damage or injuries were reported.

Worried tourists and residents called after feeling the magnitude 5.6 quake near the Nevada-California border at 9:06 a.m., followed 21 minutes later by a 5.2 magnitude temblor, Pat Jorgenson of the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., said.

The epicenters were in Nevada, 130 miles northwest of Las Vegas along a remote and sparsely populated border area, east of California's Death Valley Park, Jorgenson said.

Sunday's earthquake has been informally named the Scotty's Junction quake, because the epicenter was located east of U.S. Highway 95, about seven miles from the Death Valley landmark Scotty's Castle. The Seismic Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno recorded the quake on the Slate Ridge Fault that runs 15 miles northeast.

The first quake was the same size as one at Little Skull Mountain, 12 miles northeast of a proposed nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain. The Little Skull quake also registered 5.6 magnitude and struck on June 29, 1992. The 1992 quake followed a magnitude 7.2 jolt in Landers, Calif. on June 28, 1992.

"That's two pretty strong shakers," Jorgenson said of Sunday's temblors. "Maybe a few things would have fallen off shelves."

Several Las Vegas resorts reported calls from guests wondering what the shaking was all about.

Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the nation, following California and Alaska. Quakes have occurred in Nevada and eastern Utah, shaping the mountain ranges and basins for 30 million years.

A security guard at the Stratosphere Hotel and Tower, who asked that his name not be used, said that several people called, including an employee on top of the 1,149-foot tower who reported "a little vibration."

Employees at the Las Vegas Hilton and the Mirage also reported guests calling to ask about the movement. Neither resort reported any damage or injuries to any guests or employees.

Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker said employees in the control tower at McCarran International Airport felt movement, but nothing was shut down. "It wasn't something people got overly concerned about," Walker said.

A Metro Police dispatcher said the dispatch center received "quite a few calls" but no reports of damage or injuries.

"The callers were just trying to figure out what had happened," the dispatcher said. "They reported things shaking and plants swinging."

In addition, doctors and nurses on the first floor of Sunrise Hospital on Maryland Parkway felt the earthquake.

The Associated Press

contributed to this story.