Earthquake Near Yerington Shakes Northern Nevada

The children at Building Blocks Daycare in Yerington were enjoying their afternoon snack when the building started shaking Monday afternoon.

Then a few Christmas decorations and other trinkets started falling off the shelves. 

No injuries or damage had yet been reported as of 10 p.m. Monday after an earthquake struck at 3:08 p.m. about 14 miles north-northeast of Yerington, near the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area. The U.S. Geological Survey initially estimated the quake at magnitude 5.8, while the Nevada Seismological Laboratory estimated it at 5.7.

A swarm of small aftershocks followed the earthquake. The USGS recorded 21 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater in the first six and a half hours after the first quake.

While no serious damage had yet been reported, several residents in the Yerington area reported items falling off shelves and breaking, and there was an unconfirmed report of a crack in the band room at Yerington High School. Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mitch Brantingham and Lyon County Emergency Management Director Taylor Allison each said there were no significant reports of damage beyond minor reports of pictures falling off of walls.

“Our folks will continue to keep an eye out for any damages and impacts throughout the week,” Allison said.

JoElla Whitesides, owner of Building Blocks Daycare, was one of the residents who had items knocked off shelves. At the daycare on S. Center St., she said trinkets and Christmas decorations fell and were broken. At her home in the Sunset Hills area north of Yerington and closer to the epicenter, she said trinkets on a shelf and candlesticks on a credenza were knocked off and broken.

Whitesides grew up in Fairbanks, AK, so she has felt her fair share of earthquakes. However, she said she was surprised that the children at the daycare seemed completely unbothered.

“They were not too fazed one bit,” she said.