06:08 PM MDT on Thursday, October 6, 2005

David Gale
Idaho's NewsChannel 7

CASCADE -- After weeks of shaking, folks in Cascade say they're getting sick of feeling the earth move under their feet.

Lisa Chavez-KTVB

Cascade Dam was built in 1948. Government officials say the dam is holding up just fine in the wake of thousands of small earthquakes in the area over the past few weeks.

There may be a greater concern than trinkets falling off shelves.

Some Cascade residents say the thing they're most worried about is a dam built in 1948 and whether the structure can withstand shock after shock.

But even though thousands of small earthquakes are still being recorded every day, officials who inspect the dam say they're not worried.

"As far as failure of the dam, very, very unlikely. And the history of similar quakes next to dams would confirm that," said Steven Jarsky, Bureau of Reclamation.

The Bureau of Reclamation has repeatedly inspected the 57-year-old dam since the quakes began in the region a few weeks ago.

Based on their results, they can give three warnings to indicate the level of danger, with a number one the mildest and number three means imminent danger.

"And what level are we at right now?" asked NewsChannel 7.

"We're at level zero. We're not even at a level right now," said Jarsky.

Even though the bigger 3.5 to 4.0 quakes appear to have subsided, BSU seismologist Jim Zollweg says they could just be taking a breath before a stronger storm of shocks.

Zollweg is up in Cascade today installing more earthquake detecting equipment.

We'll have more from him and reaction from local residents coming up on the News at Six.