SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — An updated report from the U.S. Geological Survey show that areas around the Wasatch Front have a greater than 50% chance to see earthquakes powerful enough to damage buildings over the next century.
Earlier this month, the USGS updated its National Seismic Hazard Model , applying the latest science on the country’s geologic and seismic activity to create maps of earthquake risk across all 50 states. The last time these maps were updated was 2018.
Mark Petersen, a USGS research geophysicist and the lead author of the report, said these maps are used to help engineers, scientists and lawmakers update building codes and plan for potential earthquakes and strong shaking.
“Seismologists are not good at predicting earthquakes in advance, instead we forecast the location of future earthquakes, the magnitude of those earthquakes,” Peterson said.
Utah Shaking
One of the updated USGS maps shows the chances of slight damaging shaking over the next 100 years across all 50 states.