Year In Review: Magna Earthquake Rattles Wasatch Front

MAGNA, Utah — Hope reigns supreme for a better year in 2021. Utah saw just about everything in 2020 — including a 5.7-magnitude earthquake that hit Magna and rocked the Wasatch Front, causing widespread damage.

The quake hit just after 7:00 a.m. on March 18th.

For dozens of residents at a mobile home park in West Valley, it was a terrifying experience. 

“It just felt like chaos — lights flickering, stuff falling,” said one resident.

One trailer home after the other was severely damaged in Magna, the epicenter of the quake.

“This crack here there is quite a few.”

But the shaking was not over.

While KSL-TV was interviewing Shauna, a 4.6 aftershock hit.

“A beam came up from the floor and… (shaking) we are okay. I’m okay. We are okay, guys.” Shauna recalled as her house began to rattle again.

“Fridge was popped open, all my food just fell.”

It was a very emotional time for Liliana Morales, a single mother of three kids.

She came home to find in her kitchen in disarray. 

“It’s hard, it’s really hard,” she said. “I work two jobs to be able to provide for my kids. When I have extra money, I try to buy food for them so they can have here. It’s not easy.”

The tragedy continued right into the heart of Magna where century old buildings once stood.

“You cry, I cry, we all cry.”

For business owners like Sabastian, who owned an Italian restaurant in the area, first it was the virus and now this.

“It’s bad enough we had to close because of the virus, and now we’re probably closed because we don’t have a building,” he said.

A couple blocks down the street, another business owner was in the same situation.

“My heart about fell out of my chest when I saw that,” said the business owner.

At the Salt Lake International Airport, there was chaos moments before take off.

“It was pandemonium. It was chaos,” said a traveler.

“People just started screaming and running,” said another traveler.

Thousands of passengers who were waiting, boarding or already seated were sent packing.

“All of a sudden, security came in and they were like, ‘you’ve gotta leave now.’ I thought I was going to die. It was the scariest thing in my life.”

The worst of the damage was a water line that burst in concourse D.

The quake also shook the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sending Angel Moroni’s trumpet right to the ground.

Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall ended up declaring a state of emergency.

At its peak, about 49,000 customers were left without power in Salt Lake County. TRAX and Frontrunner services were also disrupted, and some roads were shut down.

But fortunately, there were no reports of serious injuries or deaths, just another reminder from mother nature of how quickly life can change.

“You think you are prepared for these kinds of things, but when it happens, you kind of forget everything.”

Since the earthquake, there have been thousands of aftershocks recorded.

State officials said the quake caused more than $70,000,000 in damage.