A 5.9 magnitude earthquake near Dayton, Nevada, was a “bogus event,” according to the United States Geological Survey.
Millions of residents from Nevada to California received an alert informing them of an earthquake just after 8 a.m. PT.
But USGS quickly realized something was awry and deleted information about the quake from its website, puzzling onlookers.
The agency said later Thursday that its automatic earthquake detection system erroneously sent the report, though it’s not clear why.
A spokesperson for the USGS said there was no such temblor in the region, about 12 miles northeast of the state capital Carson City, saying the report was “a bogus event.”
The USGS was trying to understand what went wrong and why the automatic earthquake detection system sent out the alert, the spokesperson said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies in surrounding cities and counties also confirmed that they did not feel any shaking or other signs of an earthquake.
A magnitude 5.9 quake typically is strong enough to cause slight property damage and strong shaking, according to the Michigan Tech Earthquake Magnitude Scale.
