Still, Facebook user Kristen Denton Jackson was quick to post about the event in the group Cache Valley 411.

“I swear we just had an earthquake in Benson,” she said.

Others commented with their own experiences feeling the seismic waves.

“Smithfield felt it. Thought the cats being bad,” one user said.

Other comments came from people who said they also felt the quaking from Smithfield and Benson, as well as individuals who felt it in North Logan, Mendon, Newton, Amalga, Hyde Park, Hyrum and Logan.

Some simply thought snow was falling from their homes or nearby structures. Others compared it to a snowplow or large truck driving by.

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations—a partner institution to USGS—has a webpage showing where earthquakes have occurred in Utah in the past two weeks. It shows about 50 instances of seismic activity within that time, five of which were equal to or greater than Benson’s early morning jostle.

Tony Lowry, an associate professor at Utah State University with a PhD in Geophysics, said smaller earthquakes like Benson’s can be a helpful reminder to valley residents that they live in “earthquake country.”

A more constant reminder, he said, are the mountains surrounding the valley.

“Those are there because we’ve had magnitude seven earthquakes that have moved them up a yard at a time over millions of years,” he said. “There have been magnitude seven plus earthquakes that have occurred in the last five or six thousand years on both sides of the valley.”

He explained there is both an East Cache fault and West Cache fault running through the valley.

“That said, we don’t have earthquakes very often, at least not large magnitude earthquakes,” he said. “It’s a possibility, but it’s not something that’s very likely to happen at anytime within the lifetime of anybody alive right now.”

Compared to places along plate boundaries such as places like California, Washington or Oregon, Lowry said Cache Valley is at a relatively low risk of extremely powerful earthquakes. Still, its position on the intermountain seismic belt means it is at higher risk than most areas in the country.

He also said Cache Valley’s proximity to the Wasatch Fault leaves residents at risk of suffering from a potential major earthquake from the fault, though the effects wouldn’t be felt as much as they would in places like Salt Lake City.

“Folks should be a little bit prepared. And by a little bit prepared I mean you want to make sure loose things are fairly well secured. Like if you have bookcases or things like that in your home, then you want to make sure they’re anchored to the wall,” he said. “That will minimize damage within your home.”

Still, Lowry said this isn’t a reason for residents to panic.

While smaller earthquakes are sometimes foreshocks foreshadowing larger ones, he said that only happens about 2-3% of the time.

In the unlikely event of a magnitude seven earthquake, Lowry warned homes built from unreinforced brick or stonemasonry would likely suffer serious damage. He added there would likely be problems with utilities and gas.

“It’s not a bad idea to have a couple of days’ worth of water stored away someplace or food available just so that you can get through a period of time where there might be a little bit of chaos,” Lowry said. “A lot of folks are kind of prepared that way anyway, I suspect, around here.”