05/12/1969
UTEP Seismograph Records Tremors On Richter Scale
Four mild earthquakes shook El Paso early today.
It is the first time in recorded history El Paso has felt earthquakes this strong. At least one house was damaged.
Dr. Harold S. Slusher, assistant professor of physics at the University of Texas at El Paso, said the quake apparently set a record.
Police were swamped with calls, most of them from residents in the northeast area.
The quakes were recorded on seismographic instruments at Kidd Memorial Seismographic Observatory on UTEP campus.
DR. SLUSHER said the quakes occurred at a distance of 28 to 30 miles from the UTEP campus, northeast of El Paso, outside the city limits.
The quakes were recorded at 2:26, 2:49, 2:51 and 4:39 a.m. today. Dr. Slusher said.
He said they were of a magnitude of 2.2 to 2.3 on the Richter Scale. For comparative purposes, the San Francisco earthquake was 8.4. The scale goes to 10.
"These were small quakes, just enough to be felt and do a slight bit of damage," Dr. Slusher said.
Mrs. Leona, Flowers, 4963 Rutherford drive, reported she was awakened at 2:30 a.m. by what sounded like an explosion. She found the plaster ceilings of her home covered with hairline cracks, and her cement driveway patterned with larger separations.
Several other residents called police to report hearing similar "explosions" and minor damage. Most of them thought the phenomenon was caused by an airplane breaking the sound barrier.
James Sibert at 9940 Burbon street in Northeast El Paso told The Herald Post the quake awakened him and his wife.
"IT WAS JUST as if the house had a foundation of jello," he said. "Dishes rattled, the bed shook, the beams in the attic creaked.
"We heard rumblings. It sounded like the blasting on the mountain, and the house shook almost the same way, except it was much heavier. We thought it might be Army maneuvers. Our house had a cement floor and it takes a force of some magnitude to make it shake like that."
Mrs. Ruben Garcia, 5641 Waldorf drive, said the tremor shook her house so hard the baby's crib and her bed hit the wall. "I thought it was dynamite," she said.
Policeman Juan Borjor, said the tremors were felt mostly in the northeast area. One resident in the Tigua area reported feeling a slight tremor.
Borjon said the quake was felt slight up to 5O miles to the north, but apparently not on the west side of the mountain or far south.
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