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Feeling the earth move ... or not |
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Saturday, April 19 2008 |
By RUTH STANLEY
Managing editor
It seemed to be a 50-50 split on whether local residents felt the 5.2 magnitude earthquake that shook the Midwest this morning.
Many residents slept right through the event, although some who were already up didn’t feel the ground shake either, while some who were asleep were jolted awake.
The quake just before 4:37 a.m. Central time, 5:37 a.m. local time, was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.
The earthquake rattled skyscrapers in Chicago’s Loop and homes in Cincinnati but appeared to cause no major injuries or damage.
In Whitley County, Sheriff Mark Hodges, Columbia City Police Captain Brian Anspach and Whitley County Emergency Management Director Cathy Broxon Ball all said they had received no reports of damage or injuries.
Hodges said he was up and getting ready for work but didn’t feel anything, while his wife, who was still asleep, was awakened by the quake.
Anspach, who also missed the event, said that one of the city’s officers felt the building shake, and a city maintenance man told him that he could see the ground moving as it came toward him.
Tri Lakes resident Sherry Sabatino said she was awakened from a dead sleep by the quake.
“The entertainment center started shaking,” she said. “It felt like when the washing machine has been loaded with too much stuff. It freaked me out. It was really weird.”
Randy Waldeck was sitting in his chair at work when he felt the shaking. His building is near a railroad track and at first he thought it was a train, but then he didn’t hear one.
“It was an eerie feeling,” he said. “You feel totally powerless.”
The shaking reportedly lasted 10 to 20 seconds.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, April 21 2008 )
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