COCHITI, NM -- Administrators and the military say a 6.5 magnitude earthquake and subsequent natural gas explosion are the causes for the emergency alert system broadcast heard by many yesterday.
USGS sources say a 6.5 magnitude earthquake did in fact epicentre 3 miles from the Black Mesa Research Facility. "The facility at Black Mesa is very far in the desert. They store their own natural gas for utilities throughout the complex" said Major Frank Abrams of the Marine Corps Air Station at Yuma, AZ.
"This is a case of people following the correct procedures without verifying the need for those procedures. We are quite proud of how efficiently help was requested from the Black Mesa facility. We just wish that next time they would verify a threat is indeed present.
"We can confirm Marine aircraft were scrambled due to the possible threat of terrorism, but this was unnecessary as the explosion at the facility was merely an accident caused by nature" the Major reported light heartedly.
No one was reported injured by the accident. When asked about reports of people trapped, Major Abrams said he has not heard anything about it, but would immediately follow up with his people still at the facility. "We will have to review our standard operating procedures for incidents at the facility, but at the end of the day we are just happy no one was hurt."
A spokesman for Black Mesa could not be contacted directly, but a statement release by the facility cited an earthquake rupturing gas tanks as the cause of the explosion. There is not an estimate of the cost of the damage at this time.
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