Earthquake

[Sprint]

It woke me up. I had no idea thats what it was till I got on here and read it.




5.2 earthquake rocks large region of Midwest 18 minutes ago



WEST SALEM, Ill. - Residents across the Midwest were awakened Thursday by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago's Loop and homes in Cincinnati but appeared to cause no major injuries or damage.




The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.

"It shook our house where it woke me up," said David Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign. "Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."

Bonnie Lucas, a morning co-host at WHO-AM in Des Moines, said she was sitting in her office when she felt her chair move. She grabbed her desk, and then heard the ceiling panels start to creak. The shaking lasted about 5 seconds, she said.

The quake is believed to have involved the Wabash fault, a northern extension of the New Madrid fault about 6 miles north of Mt. Carmel, Ill., said United States Geological Survey geophysicist Randy Baldwin.

The last earthquake in the region to approach the severity of Friday's temblor was a 5.0 magnitude quake that shook a nearby area in 2002, Baldwin said.

"This is a fairly large quake for this region," he said. "They might occur every few years."

Baldwin said the USGS revised the quake's magnitude from 5.4 to 5.2.

Irvetta McMurtry of Cincinnati said she felt the rattling for up to 20 seconds.

"All of a sudden, I was awakened by this rumbling shaking," said McMurtry, 43. "My bed is an older wood frame bed, so the bed started to creak and shake, and it was almost like somebody was taking my mattress and moving it back and forth."

Lucas Griswold, a dispatcher in West Salem, said the Edwards County sheriff's department received reports of minor damage and no injuries.

"Oh, yeah, I felt it. It was interesting," Griswold said. "A lot of shaking."

Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Todd Ringle in Evansville said there were no immediate reports of damage.

[fan4ever]

Just talked to my son in Fairfield, IL which is about 20 miles from West Salem. Shook some breakables off shelves...initial shock lasted about 5 seconds but shaking lingered for a good minute. Said their 4 cats went wild...jumping up in the air...funny as heck!! As far as he knew, tho, no major damage.

[NR4]

shocking.

[BucNut]

Wow, having lived in SoCal for 12 years, I went through a few, but I'm sure you folks up there were in shock!

[ProwlingPanther]

On the news down here in Tn/Va some people even felt it.

[fan4ever]

The magnitude 5.2 earthquake that rocked the Midwest on Friday was felt from Kansas to Georgia, and aftershocks could continue for months at this strange seismic zone at the nation's center and even trigger another big quake, a geophysicist said.

The quake occurred on a northern extension of the New Madrid fault, about 6 miles north of Mt. Carmel, Ill. The New Madrid fault was responsible for devastating quakes in the Mississippi Valley in 1811 and 1812. So the Friday quake and its aftershocks likely are raising the blood pressure of some residents and scientists.

For decades, scientists have debated whether and when the underlying fault could generate another temblor of similar and deadly strength.

"I think we saw a window to this possibility today in the Wabash Valley," said geophysicist Allessandro Forte of the Universite du Quebec à Montreal, who has studied the region's seismicity. "It's to the north of the New Madrid seismic zone, but given the strength of crust, the stress can be distributed great distances. It's not clear if we could see something in the next few years or even next few months, I would say."

The last earthquake in the region to approach the severity of Friday's temblor was a 5.0 magnitude quake that shook a nearby area in 2002, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

An event actually surpassing today's magnitude last occurred in 1968, a magnitude 5.3 quake that was felt in 23 states, said Forte. The magnitude scale is logarithmic so a change of 0.1 or 0.2 makes a big difference in terms of energy output. The 1968 event was felt in Ontario and Boston.

"The $64,000 question is what this earthquake portends for the future," Forte said. "The answer is I'm afraid it can go either way."

Rest of story

[Sprint]

Still shakin around here

[SLOBGOBLIN]

we got a earthquake here in CNY about 4 years ago,just a minor one like a 3.4 on the scale,It rattled some things around the house thou,my antique bottle collection lost a few bottles from it!garf!

[Bucamaniac40]

Never experienced on but all I can say is stay safe guys!



Good to see ya Slobby!