About 45 families were displaced by the earthquake and sought assistance from the Red Cross, which brought disaster relief services from Elko and Boise. A shelter was set up at a nearby LDS Church. By late Thursday afternoon, the Wells Elementary School had become a nerve center for emergency assistance being carried out by multiple agencies.

Inside the school, Rick Sharp was overseeing a supply line made up of 16 inmates from the minimum-security Wells Conservation Camp east of Wells.

The inmates, who are at the camp from six months to three years, represent the camp's cooking unit and prepared a meal for residents that evening.

Although many buildings were deemed inhabitable, the elementary school became a refuge because of its sturdiness, said principal Leslie Lotspeich.

"This building is awesome," she said. "It withstood the earthquake like a champ."

Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, the gymnasium/cafeteria at the school filled with about 350 people looking to share stories, ask questions, eat a hot meal and possibly stay the night. Andrea Woods was one of those people, among the many in Wells whose homes were rattled to their foundations, leaving behind a big mess and shaken nerves.

"I've got a massive headache," said Woods, who didn't plan on spending the night by herself in her home. "I want to cry, but I can't — because I've got such a big lump in my throat."

"It was scary, like a freight train coming through the house, like the gates of hell opening up," she added. "There was a sound like a big growl."

Earlier in the day, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons toured the damaged buildings and encountered Dorothy North.

"We really need to make sure that these people are whole," she told him.

"I'm really glad no one was seriously hurt, no one lost their lives," he replied. "I know the way this community is. With a little help, they'll pull together."

Peg Kaplan is unsure if she'll be able to rebuild. She and her husband own the El Rancho Hotel on Lake Avenue, which was nearly destroyed. She was allowed back into her building briefly Thursday afternoon to find some of her cats. They refused to budge from under a bed.

"I don't know if we'll ever recover," she said. "It's a heartbreak."

Felt far away

In Utah, emergency dispatchers were flooded with calls from people who felt the quake from Brigham City all the way to Provo.

Ogden police officer Tim Shelstead was running radar on 7th Street when his car began shaking. "I thought it was a train going by with no train," he said Thursday.

It wasn't until residents started calling emergency dispatchers and the information was relayed over police radio that he realized it was an earthquake.