LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A 3.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Thursday afternoon startled residents across the Las Vegas Valley, with reports of shaking felt as far west as Pahrump.

The earthquake occurred shortly before 2 p.m. and was centered about six miles west of Summerlin near the Red Rock Canyon area. According to experts, the quake was relatively shallow, occurring approximately six kilometers (about 4.5 miles) below the surface.

“It was relatively shallow; it was about 6 kilometers and about 4 and a half miles deep. That is a very Nevada-style thing to have happened. We have shallow earthquakes in Nevada. That means for the same magnitude we feel it more at the surface,” said Dr. Christie Rowe, Director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory.

While Nevada ranks as the third most earthquake-prone state in the nation behind Alaska and California, Dr. Rowe said the location of Thursday’s earthquake came as a surprise.

“This quake was a surprise because we don’t know of any faults in this particular location, but that is actually not uncommon, especially in southern Nevada, because the faults that we know of are the ones that have earthquakes in the recent past, and we have a lot of faults that are out there. We haven’t had an earthquake in a recent past, and so there are always a surprise,” Dr. Rowe added.

Many Southern Nevadans may not realize just how many fault lines exist throughout the region. Experts say several faults run much closer to populated areas than most people think.

“Las Vegas has many fault lines that a lot of people aren’t aware of that any one of them can trigger earthquakes,” Guy DeMarco from The City of Las Vegas Emergency Management team previously shared.

One such fault line is located near the heart of downtown Las Vegas.

“There is actually a fault line that runs right underneath the baseball field where the 51’s used to play,” DeMarco added.

Despite ongoing research, experts say it is still hard to accurately predict when or where the next major earthquake will occur.

“A big one can happen tomorrow, or a big one may not happen for 50-100 years. We really don’t know because fault lines operate on their own time, and they could go at any point. A lot of people assume they don’t happen here,” DeMarco said.

Although no damage or injuries were immediately reported following Thursday’s earthquake, experts caution that seismic activity may continue in the coming hours and days.

“There could be some felt aftershocks every once in a while; one of these earthquakes turns out to be a foreshock, but we don’t know that until a bigger earthquake happens afterward,” Dr. Rowe said.

The earthquake serves as an important reminder for residents to review their emergency preparedness plans.

“The kind of things that we would really worry about is something that is big enough to damage our water supply, maybe take power offline, affect communications. Have some food and water at home and supplies that would help you get through any shortages that might occur after a major earthquake,” Rowe advised.

Nevada is also preparing to implement the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system, similar to the program already operating in California. The system is designed to send alerts to residents seconds before shaking begins, providing valuable time to take protective action.

For now, experts encourage Southern Nevadans to use Thursday’s earthquake as a reminder to be prepared.

RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — A wrinkle in Nevada’s election laws means the Republican primary for Washoe County District Attorney in 2026 is a winner-take-all contest — whoever wins the GOP primary will appear on the November general election ballot unopposed and win the seat outright.

Only two Republicans tossed their hats in the ring — incumbent Chris Hicks and Sparks city attorney Wes Duncan. And because no Democrats, nonpartisans or third-party candidates filed to run, the GOP primary will determine the next district attorney.

Washoe DA GOP primary is winner-take-all because of 2015 law signed by Gov. Sandoval

FULL RACE PREVIEW: Washoe County DA race: GOP primary between Hicks, Duncan will decide next top prosecutor

The unusual dynamic leaves over two-thirds of the Washoe County electorate with no say whatsoever in selecting the county’s top prosecutor for the next four years. So why is it this way?

It’s not because of a decades-old provision in Nevada Revised Statutes, rather an intentional law change passed in 2015 and signed by then-Gov. Brian Sandoval.

Prior to 2015, if only one major party had candidates file for an office, there was no primary contest under Nevada law. Instead, all of that party’s candidates automatically advanced to the general election, where voters from all parties would select the winner.

But in 2015, Senate Bill 499 changed all of that. SB 499, sponsored by the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, originally sought to create a top-three open primary with ranked choice voting in the general, said Doug Goodman, founder and executive director of Nevadans for Election Reform.

Goodman, who supports increasing participation for Nevada’s growing nonpartisan voting bloc, initially backed that legislation. But on amendment, those provisions were stripped out entirely and replaced with entirely different language.

Under the amended bill, a party primary must be held regardless of the number of candidates. That primary contest would determine the party’s one nominee, who would advance to the general election unopposed.

It received unanimous bipartisan support in the Nevada Senate and passed with a two-thirds majority in the Nevada Assembly. 14 Assembly Republicans voted no on Senate Bill 499, but it passed anyways and was signed into law by Gov. Sandoval.

TMCC political science professor Fred Lokken told News 4-Fox 11 he believes it’s created an undemocratic scenario.

I see this as the most undemocratic concept of elections that has ever been perpetrated.

“It’s done in a number of states, Nevada’s not the only one, but a primary is not a deciding election. There should be no decision for the fall election made months in advance when voters aren’t paying attention,” Lokken said. “It’s all in favor of the parties. It cuts down in those elections, the notion that they have to go through another round.”

In contrast, many others would argue that only a party’s voters should be able to select a party’s nominee.

Attempts to undo this change have been unsuccessful. In 2019, Assembly Bill 259 would’ve reversed that provision of the 2015 legislation — it passed in the Assembly 30-10 but never came up for a vote in the Senate that year.

Another possible solution would be to make countywide offices such as district attorney, clerk and assessor nonpartisan contests. Lokken even floated that such positions should be appointed.

“I really hope that the 2027 (Nevada) legislature is willing to reopen this and consider fixing it. A partial open primary makes a whole lot of sense, and not allowing it to be the decision-maker makes a lot of difference … I would suggest that a lot of these positions should be appointed, not elected. There are too many elections.”

Email reporter Ben Margiott at bjmargiott@sbgtv.com. Follow @BenMargiott on X and Ben Margiott KRNV on Facebook.