Seismologists say we are not in the clear potential for another quake in the next 48 hours

SEATTLE - Local seismologists say we have a less than 10% chance that another quake will hit Puget Sound in the next 48 hours and it could be potentially stronger than the recent 4.6 magnitude earthquake.

“It literally woke me up,” Levi Hanis said.

Nerves are still rattled after Puget Sound’s overnight earthquake.

“Everything was shaking we jumped off the bed he told me to get my clothes on real quick we were kind of in a panic,” said one woman.

People in Snohomish County near the epicenter of the 4.6 magnitude earthquake and the 3.5 aftershock felt the ground lift.

“It wasn’t like a big jolt but it was enough to feel like you were dropped,” Carmal Wooding said.

It’s not anything, anyone around here wants to feel again but experts say we are not in the clear.

“In actuality there is an elevated risk for the next 24 hours to 48 hours of a bigger earthquake occurring,” Bill Steele with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network said.

Just like we saw in California dealing with damage from that 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

But Pacific Northwest Seismic Network says don’t conflate the origins of ours with Southern California.

“They are a thousand kilometers away they are on a different tectonic setting,” Steele said.

In our area, there are hundreds of faults that could potentially erupt into a quake, the Three Lakes 4.6 earthquake happened on a fault with no name.

“Not an unusual place for an earthquake,” Steele said.

Steele is saying that because he remembers a previous earthquake close to the no name fault.

“The Duvall earthquake occurred in 94 it caused millions of dollars in damage,” Steele said.

The state is testing out an alert system. The shake alert system that PNSN is also apart of developing actually detected the quake at UW about 6 seconds before the ground shoot in Seattle.

“We are going to a full tilt to fill in the gaps in the network to improve our ability to alert,” Steele said.

But the challenge is how to transfer the technology into an app for widespread public use. It could be an important step because it’s not a matter if a catastrophic earthquake will happen it’s when.

Washington State Emergency Management says they hope to have at least a partial public rollout by Oct 2020. But they do have a lot of work to do.

The state says the quake hit 18 miles below the surface.