USA: Earthquake rattles Salt Lake City in Utah state

 Salt Lake City

LOS ANGELES, March 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A shallow 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck near Salt Lake City on Wednesday, rattling residents and causing power outages in the western US state of Utah, the US Geological Survey reported.

The USGS said the quake hit at 1309 GMT four kilometres north of Magna, a township in Salt Lake County, at a depth of 9.6 kilometres.

The quake was felt throughout the area, a map on the monitoring agency website showed, although there were no immediate reports of serious damage.

Rocky Mountain Power said electricity to some 73,000 customers was knocked out by the quake, which local news reports described as the strongest in the area since 1992.

The Salt Lake Tribune said there were reports of damage to homes and businesses but no major collapses.

The quake was followed by more than 25 aftershocks, the strongest registering magnitude 4.4, the USGS said.