Earthquake Hits Mid-West!

[snapcat]

Oh my goodness, the news is going crazy here! There was a 5.4 earthquake centered west of Evansville about 4:30 AM. It was enough to wake me up and make the cat do some weird running around in the house. The dogs just weren't going to have it; we let ours in the house - although I guess the smart thing would have been to go outside where they were. We hardly ever have earthquakes here, so I imagine this will be the watercooler moment for the day in these parts.

From the AP ...

WEST SALEM, Ill. (AP) — A 5.4 earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people awake as far away as Milwaukee early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor.


The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered 6 miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind. It awakened people in neighboring Indiana and even Milwaukee, Wis., 350 miles north of the epicenter.


"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."


The quake also shook tall buildings in downtown Indianapolis, about 160 miles northeast of the epicenter.


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


The quake occurred in the Illinois basin-Ozark dome region that covers parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas and stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The organization's Web site said earthquakes occur irregularly in the area, and that the largest historical earthquake in the region — also a magnitude 5.4 — caused damage in southern Illinois in 1968.

 

[snapcat]

It reminded me more of thunder than anything else. Then I remembered there was no rain in the forecast. I think I'm kind of tuned in to hear the dogs when they call out. They are used to coming inside for just about anything (spoiled rotten) so I'm betting that's what woke me up initially.

 

[cityboy-stl]

Scared the crap out of me.
The windows rattled like crazy. I think that's what woke me up. I keep the bedroom door closed at night and it opened the door. So far I've seen no other effects. I knew it was an earthquake right away. I just laid there waiting for it be over and hoping it wouldn't get worse. I never was able to get back to sleep.

Earthquakes are one of the scariest things. They're completely without warning and there's not a damn thing you can do. I had nightmares for months after the last one.

 

[954dude]

That's frightening. I hope no one was injured.

 

[fuzzy64]

my partners and I were in bed when it hit, was rumbling and you could feel it shaking. definitely a weird experience.


it must have been strong, we are in St Louis and felt it....

 

[Eagle653]

It woke me up and practically threw me out of bed. There were several sharp jolts. Thankfully, there's only minor damage in some of the older homes of St. Louis, and most of that is confined to cracked plaster. But, the city closed several bridges during the morning rush to confirm their integrity. And, they're checking gas lines.

(A piece of trivia I heard on the way into work: Whether a quake rolls and rumbles, or is felt as a sharp jolt depends on the solidness of the foundation you're sitting on. If you're on solid bedrock, like I am, it's felt more as a sharp jolt; if you're on less solid fill, you feel more of a roll and rumble.)

 

[eddielee]

I wonder if the earthquake was part of the New Madrid fault system. There is potential for a terrible earthquake in that area. I hope this isn't a precursor to something worse.

 

[DaddyBadger]

We've felt tremours before, all the way up here in Madison, Wisconsin from the New Madrid fault... but I was still fast asleep and didn't feel a thing. I hope everything is OK with those folks closer to the epicenter than I...

Makes me want to visit New Madrid, Missouri again... (while it's still there... )

 

[cAndId]

This naturally was caused by homosexuals in Illinois.

 

[Ohiospeedo]

Slept right through it...didn't even know about it until I got to work. No major damage here.

 

[dpnice]

my partners and I were in bed .......................

Life is not fair! Here is someone suffering an earthquake but with several people in his bed to support him.

If ever I suffer an earthquake I shall most certainly be on my own.

 

[Kulindahr]

It woke me up and practically threw me out of bed. There were several sharp jolts. Thankfully, there's only minor damage in some of the older homes of St. Louis, and most of that is confined to cracked plaster. But, the city closed several bridges during the morning rush to confirm their integrity. And, they're checking gas lines.

(A piece of trivia I heard on the way into work: Whether a quake rolls and rumbles, or is felt as a sharp jolt depends on the solidness of the foundation you're sitting on. If you're on solid bedrock, like I am, it's felt more as a sharp jolt; if you're on less solid fill, you feel more of a roll and rumble.)

By "foundation" they mean the type of geological surface you're on. Most of the Midwest has really solid crust underneath, so the quake can propagate a long ways, but the actual surface is quite varied -- from bedrock to unconsolidated sediments -- so what people will feel will vary substantially.
And if the crust under you is jumbled, you can get combination shakes -- rolling, jerking, shaking....

I am in Appleton, Wisconsin on my layover (130 miles north of Chicago) and I woke up about 2 minutes before it happened, and I felt it. I agree with someone on here who said it was like thunder. We had some storms up this way last night, so I just assumed it was thunder close enough where I could feel it. I just turned over and went back to sleep thinking how nice it was sleeping through a storm! haha!

I think it's interesting that I woke up before it, because when we had that minor quake in Georgia/Alabama a few years ago, I woke up just before that one too.

Many mammals are sensitive to earthquakes -- dogs, cows, pigs and others often react before the "actual" quake. That sensitivity remains in part of the human population. I remember being in California and having a "Radar O'Reilly moment" -- this guy looks up, says "earthquake", and heads out of the building. We were like, WTF? and then things started shaking. It wasn't even a 5, though, so to Californians it was just something to mention at lunch and then forget.

Why is it that all earthquakes (at least the ones I'm pretty familiar with) happen in the morning time? I find that a bit odd.

Well, see, the sun starts heating the earth, and...

 

[Kulindahr]

I've been in five earthquakes I could feel. The scariest was in Corvallis, Oregon -- scary because the house I was in, and in fact the whole neighborhood, sat on hills of sedimentary conglomerate and clay, it was the wet season, and the ground was nearly saturated. It wasn't quite perfect conditions for mass earth movements (slides), but it was close enough that I rolled out of bed and was out the door, yelling, "Out of the house!" before I had wrapped a blanket around me.
Second scariest was when I was driving a friend's '67 Mustang 'way up on a freeway in Los Angeles (about seven floors in the air), and all of a sudden all the cars slipped to the left. I thought I had a steering problem till I noticed everyone had the same problem, at which point I realized we hadn't moved, the freeway, and thus the earth, had moved under us. So I put the Mustang's maneuverability to use, and got the frak off that height! Californians seemed to just sedately head for lower levels....
Then there was the Christmas when the Christmas tree lurched sideways and the little angel choir danced off the top of the TV -- I was like 7, and thought it was fun.
The others were barely noticeable.


For this one, I have a question: any of you who felt it, was there anything to tell you how much movement you actually had? Dishes or such sitting on smooth shelves are good candidates.

 

[star-warrior]

Norse legend has it that some earthquakes are caused by Loki's writhing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A577668

It all starts with the deity and prankster Loki and his killing of Baldur. The other gods were furious and Loki ran away as fast as he could. The other gods followed hot in persuit. It was a long chase (and a long story to go with it) but eventually they caught him.

Loki had several children. He had the twin sons Narvi and Vali, an enormous serpent called Jormungand who lived at the bottom of the sea that encircled Midgard1, a gigantic wolf called Fenrir2 and a daughter called Hel who looked after all the dead. The gods chased after Loki’s two twin sons and succeeded on catching them. They changed Vali into a wolf but he attacked Narvi and tore his throat out before escaping. The gods took the intestines from Narvi’s body and brought them to the cave where the other gods had taken Loki.

In this cave the gods took three rocks and drilled holes in them. They then stretched Loki out on the rocks and tied him fast with the intestines from his own son. The gods weren’t satisfied with tying Loki up and leaving him so they brought a venomous snake and hung it from the roof of the cave above Loki. The poison from the snakes fangs dripped down onto Loki’s face and made him writhe in agony.

His faithful wife Sigyn stayed with Loki and caught the poison in a bowl. When the bowl was full she had to go away and empty it and Loki was hit by the venom. When he writhes and shudders he causes earthquakes.

 

[Shepherd 2]

I wonder if the earthquake was part of the New Madrid fault system. There is potential for a terrible earthquake in that area. I hope this isn't a precursor to something worse.

Indeed it is. The Mississippi River Valley is no drainage accident, but the early development of an active New Madrid fault line, and I have long expected it to spring back into action for a while. I know it is not reassuring to the folks in the heartland, but it is probably a forerunner or a reminded of a time to come many years from now.

Shep+

 

[Absolut]

Yeah, I felt them both. A very strange sensation.

I was laying in bed and thought "Um, that's strange. My bed is vibrating." I chalked it up to my fan that's always on high possibly going on the fritz...

Now that I know it was a confirmed earthquake, kind of some scary shit.

 

[The Big Shot]

So around 4:30-ish this morning I'm sitting on the floor of my room, leaned up against my bed browsing the net before sleepy time. Then the entire fucking building begins to shake. I hear this rumbling noise, which I found out was my roommates VCR falling to the floor. I wait for the shaking to stop and after it does, I rush out of my room and find both of my roommates awake so I know that I wasn't the only one who felt it. People in my apartment building start opening their doors and coming out to see what was going on, as did I. After my roommates and I finish talking and joking, I head to my room and go back to sleep. At 10:22 this morning the same thing happened. This time I was sleeping and didn't get up, instead looking at the clock, remembering the time, and heading back to sleep. Just a few minutes ago I found it that it was, indeed, an earthquake.

Freaky. Especially since I pretty much joked about it and blew it off and went (back) to sleep both times.

 

[StlKj]

The house shook and I woke up all disoriented. Had some dizzy spells this week, so I actually woke up thinking something was wrong with me. Then I figured out what it was. The cat was freaked out.

 

[RationalLunacy]

Indiana's going to fall into the [STRIKE]Pacific Ocean[/STRIKE] Great Lakes!

 

[Eagle653]

I wonder if the earthquake was part of the New Madrid fault system. There is potential for a terrible earthquake in that area. I hope this isn't a precursor to something worse.

No, it wasn't part of the volatile New Madrid system, although it might have been better had it been as that one is slowly building up pressure without releasing it. The longer that goes on, the more forceful it's going to be when it blows.

Instead, this was the Wabash Valley system that straddles the Illinois/Indiana border--about 150 miles northeast of the New Madrid fault and about 130 miles east of St. Louis. We had two pretty moderate aftershocks today too.