5.3 Earthquake Near Carlsbad Felt in Alamogordo 7:47 pm Saturday

A strong earthquake first reported as a 4.7 but upgraded to a 5.3 is reportedly centered in rural, far-west Texas shook portions of southeast New Mexico Saturday night at 7:47 pm. I was felt by many in Alamogordo with glasses shaking but no damage. 

The magnitude 5.3 tremor was reported at about 7:47 p. m. by the U.S. Geological Survey south of Carlsbad.

Reports were made to the Geological Survey of light to moderate shaking felt throughout the area, as far east as San Angelo, Texas and as far west as Las Cruces and certainly in Alamogordo. 

Magnitude 5 earthquakes are often felt as mild shaking, and can cause some property damage, equating to the disturbance of an average tornado, according to a scale published by the Geological Survey. There are about 1,500 earthquakes of such magnitude annually across the world.

No damage in the Carlsbad nor Teas area was reported. 

The shaking was also felt just over the border in El Paso, Texas, according to the National Weather Service’s El Paso office as reported via X.

Saturday night’s quake was the 2nd largest reported in the Permian Basin area in the last year, amid a recent uptick in shaking throughout the region. The area saw 423 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater since January 2024, mostly clustered around the border between southeast New Mexico and West Texas.

Since the area began seeing increased seismicity, some have connected the events to increase oil and gas operations in the area, specifically wastewater disposal wells which pump oilfield fluids underground, potentially pressurizing normally inactive underground rock formations.

Operators in the region began working to distribute the fluids away from areas of seismic activity and treat and reuse more water, while regulators in New Mexico and Texas took steps to reduce injection volumes permitted near the epicenters of the quakes

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