VALDEZ, Colo. (AP) — The strongest earthquake to hit Colorado in more than four decades startled thousands of residents along the New Mexico border as it toppled chimneys, cracked walls and triggered minor rockslides in the arid, mountainous region. No injuries were reported Tuesday.
Monday night's magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck just hours before a magnitude-5.9 temblor in Virginia — also rare for that area — shook much of Washington, D.C., and the East Coast.
Small aftershocks rattled the region about 180 miles south of Denver but caused no further damage.
The quake hit at 11:46 p.m. MDT Monday about nine miles southwest of Trinidad, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden. It had an estimated depth of 2.5 miles and was felt in a relatively large area of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
The earthquake was the largest in Colorado since a magnitude-5.3 temblor was recorded in Denver's northern suburbs in 1967, said Paul Earle of the USGS.
Las Animas County Sheriff Jim Casias said Colorado authorities were assessing damage that included a porch collapse and a partially collapsed roof.
Dozens of residents in Trinidad, a town of 9,000 people, and in northern New Mexico called the USGS to report the shaking. Others called from Colorado Springs and as far away as southwestern Nebraska, said Gavin Hayes, a USGS research seismologist.
Small aftershocks continued in a region that the USGS says is not known for major quakes or active faults. About a dozen small temblors were recorded in the area in August and September 2001, said USGS geophysicist Jessica Sigala.
Colorado is no stranger to earthquakes, but most are small and go unnoticed.
According to the USGS, an 1882 earthquake near what is now Rocky Mountain National Park is believed to be the largest recorded in the state, with an estimated magnitude of 6.6.
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