4.3 earthquake near Grand Coulee Dam
Sep 1, 2015, 10:17 AM | Updated: 11:36 am
A 4.3 magnitude earthquake rattled an area about 21 miles north of the Grand Coulee Dam on Tuesday morning. (Image from Northwest Earthquake Tracker)
(Image from Northwest Earthquake Tracker)
A 4.3 magnitude earthquake rattled an area about 21 miles north of the Grand Coulee Dam on Tuesday morning.
The quake registered about 6 miles deep around 9:30 a.m.
Check the Northwest Earthquake Tracker
There are no reports of any injuries or damage.
The dam, built between 1933 and 1942, was built to withstand large earthquakes, according to The Wenatchee World. A local engineer told the World that large concrete dams, such as the Grand Coulee, keep their shape and contain their reservoirs even in an earthquake measuring 8.0.
“In general, the dams are very, very robust,” Kevin Marshall at the Grant County PUD, told The Wenatchee World. “It’s not like a building. The building codes have you design a skyscraper so you can exit in a one-in-500-year event. We hold the dams to a higher standard. That ‘wall of water’ is a very, very low probability thing.”
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