A 5.0 magnitude, man-made earthquake struck Cushing, Oklahoma on Sunday, Nov. 6. No injuries have been reported, but up to 50 buildings have been damaged. The earthquake has been part of a string of thousands of earthquakes in the area within the last few years caused by oil plants putting wastewater into the ground. BYU-Hawaii students said they are concerned about the people who live near these oil plants.
Derek Au, a sophomore from Hong Kong studying exercise science, said, “If this keeps going on, it could turn into a disaster. I hope they find a different way to remove waste from those plants, or else it could be a real problem.”
Oklahoma is a hub for oil and gas production. Wastewater from oil and gas being injected into the ground causes increased seismic activity, and some residents of the Cushing area are unbothered by the activity because they know it is part of living near an oil plant. Jefferson Chang, a geophysicist from Oklahoma, told AP, "The activity has been going on for the past year and a half or so this is just a spike in the activity."
Spencer Serrao, a sophomore from Mililani studying accounting, said, “It’s kind of troubling that people can cause earthquakes. Even though they may not be a big threat right now, I feel like it might get worse when more waste comes in. People could be hurt.”
New regulations in Oklahoma have attempted to cut back on underground water injections. Reducing the volume of water has reduced seismic activity, but only by a small margin.
According to CBS, Oklahoma usually averaged having two earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 3.0 a year, but in 2015 there were nearly 907. Cindy Roe, an Oklahoma resident, told AP, “I thought my whole trailer was going to tip over, it was shaking it so bad. It was loud and all the lights went out and you could hear things falling on the ground. It was awful and I don't want to have another one."
Rulon Olmstead, a junior from Utah studying mathematics, said, “I don’t see how it’s a huge issue. It’s probably expensive to remove the water in other ways and no one has been hurt. I guess it could affect infrastructure but it might take a lot more earthquakes.”
Writer: Savanna Bachelder and AP