US state hit by more than SIXTY earthquakes measuring up to 5.1 on the Richter scale in one week

More than 60 earthquakes have been reported in one region in the past week, prompting a state of emergency.

Scurry County in West Texas was hit by a 5.1 magnitude earthquake on Friday, which was felt as far away as Oklahoma. The next day, a 4.5 magnitude quake struck.

The epicentre in Hermleigh has already experienced 62 earthquakes since last Monday (July 23).

District Judge Dan Hicks declared a disaster in the county on Friday and is asking for help from the state. He is asking anyone with damage or losses to fill out a survey that will help them determine the extent of damage in the area.

The earthquakes began on Monday, July 23, when massive tremors swept across Texas after a 4.9 magnitude quake shook residents of Hermleigh at 10:38 p.m. CST. These quakes were also felt in Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Less than 10 minutes after the quake, a 4.4 magnitude aftershock struck. Residents experienced a 3.1 magnitude aftershock early Tuesday morning.

Hermleigh was hit again by a magnitude 4.0 earthquake shortly before 11 p.m. CST on Thursday, followed by a magnitude 2.5 aftershock about an hour later.

Many more earthquakes were reported during the week, but these had a magnitude of less than 3.

At least six earthquakes were reported on Friday, with a magnitude of 5.1 making it the fifth strongest to hit the state ever.

No damage or injuries were reported.

The largest quake was felt about 80 miles (130 kilometers) away in Lubbock and parts of the South Plains.

West Texas does not lie on a major fault line, but it does have 250 smaller fault lines that extend over 1,800 miles (2,900 km) from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“You know, we’ve been having (earthquakes) as long as I think time has been recorded here, as long as there have been people here,” Hicks said. Abilene Reporter News.

The recent increase in seismic events has led the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) to launch an investigation into whether they were caused by the injection of fluids into the ground for the extraction of petroleum products.

“But we don’t know of any attack that was so violent.”

The recent increase in seismic events has led to the The Railroad Commission (RRC) of Texas is launching an investigation to determine whether the damage was caused by the injection of fluids into the ground to extract petroleum products.

Texas is the world’s leading country in fracking. As of February 2017, there were 279,615 oil and gas wells in the state. By 2023, that number had risen to 373,133 active wells.

“To reduce the seismic activity potentially caused by the underground injection of produced water, several operators in the area have converted deep saltwater discharge wells to shallow saltwater discharge wells over the past year,” the RRC wrote in a statement Friday.

Inspectors plan to examine wells within 4 kilometers of the epicenter this week.

“The RRC will evaluate what further steps can be taken to mitigate earthquakes,” the state agency said.

‘We will continue to take the necessary measures to protect the environment and the residents in the area.’

The fracking process In this technique, miners drill deep into the earth’s surface and release water under high pressure. This causes a small explosion, releasing natural gas and oil that can be used to generate energy.

The action brings groundwater to the surface and when it is injected back into the ground, it puts pressure on the fault lines, resulting in more earthquakes.

Researchers have reported that seismic activity in Texas has increased since 2018, with 81 percent of earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.5 or greater recorded since 2020.

In 2021 alone, the state of Texas was hit by more than 200 earthquakes of magnitude three or greater, more than double the number of earthquakes the previous year.

Locals have long complained about hydraulic fracturing in the region, with one person saying they moved to central or southwest Texas to avoid the increasing number of earthquakes.

“The damage (from fracking) has been done, and now we’re just paying the price. And this is what it is,” one resident told the Texas Tribune in 2022.