[7] During the quake, the surrounding landscape dropped as much as 20 feet (6.1 m) and shockwaves caused numerous seiches to surge across Hebgen Lake for 12 hours.

The earthquake caused a seiche which inundated trailers and tents, uprooted trees, and injured one additional person.

Landslides caused by the quake blocked a road between Mammoth and Old Faithful, damaging a bridge inside the park.

[15] The earthquake also created fault scarps as high as 20 feet (6.1 m), causing extensive damage to roads, homes, and buildings.

[6][page needed] In Ennis, most residents were evacuated due to concern Hebgen Lake might flood the town.

[15] Seismic waves from the quake were reported in Boise and Macks Inn, Idaho, causing minor well and sewer damage.

[20] Fearing that the pressure caused by the rising water would result in a catastrophic flood, the Army Corps of Engineers began to cut a 250-foot (76.2 m) wide and 14-foot (4.3 m) deep channel into the slide.

The geography of the area plus the damage from the earthquake disrupted and/or obstructed radio communications, making broadcasting accurate information about the quake's effects difficult.

[6][page needed] The Yellowstone County Chapter of the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and various other local, national, and organizations from multiple states sent aid to the victims of the earthquake.

The Red Cross also set up temporary housing in Bozeman and the Wyoming Department of Health sent 200 trailers to the Yellowstone area to be used as hospitals.

[7] Because the majority of the roads in and around the Yellowstone area were either damaged or blocked by the landslides and the quake, equipment and personnel from the United States Air Force and the U.S. Forest Service were brought in to transport the injured to nearby hospitals outside the quake zone and to perform search and rescue missions in Madison Canyon.

[17] Senators and Representatives Frank Moss (D-Utah), John Baldwin (R-California), Harold Johnson (D-California), Lee Metcalf (D-Montana), Leroy Anderson (D-Montana), Tom Morris (D-New Mexico) and Gracie Pfost (D-Idaho) flew over and surveyed the disaster area.

Because of the threat of gasoline spilling into the Missouri River, a local pipeline company built an emergency pumping station.

[16] Hebgen Lake was completely drained for crewmen to make repairs and to rid it of dead or dying fish.

[6][page needed] Fifty people including police officers, members of the Red Cross and others held a memorial service a mile north of the slide in Madison Canyon for campers presumed buried under the quake-induced landslide.

[21] The U.S. Forest Service placed a plaque on one of the boulders that fell during the quake to honor the 19–21 people who were killed during the quake-induced landslide.