Apr 18, 2008

A Little Rumbly

Bed shaking... Did someone put a quarter in the vibrating bed again? Oh wait... The house is shaking, too. Sleepily, I wondered: What in the world was that? I thought it was the wind, but yet it didn't sound like a normal wind. Just vibrations and then.... nothing. When I turned on the news this morning, I found out there had been an EARTHQUAKE near West Salem, IL at 4:37am. That's 338 miles southeast of where I am! Apparently, vibrations have been felt in IN, MO, WI, MI, KY, AR, and IL.

It has been rated 5.4 on the Richter Magnitude Scale, which is a moderate earthquake that can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions, and possibly slight damage to well-designed buildings. Approximately 800 earthquakes of this magnitude occur per year.

For anyone concerned, I am OK and we've suffered no damage where I am at.

7 comments:

Kendra said...

Kentucky too! We're about 2 hours from the epicenter, so we got a pretty good shake this morning. And actually, we just had an aftershock go through.

It woke me up from a sound sleep this morning and even though I've been through an earthquake before (there was a similar magnitude back in 1987...granted, I was 11, but I remember it), it still scared the crud out of me.

I've already blogged about it. I know to folks who've lived in California, this is no big deal...but for those of us who don't get shook up very often, it's a bit unnerving.

Jennifer's life and goings on said...

I am so glad that you are okay. Wow, that is a first isn't it to have an earthquake there.

Anonymous said...

Not a first, actually. New Madrid - the fault that today's quake was on - is fairly well known although has been quiet. There's another fault that runs through Illinois, and we had a quake on that line 3-4 years ago that epicentered near Utica. The same town that got pretty well trashed by killer tornadoes just a few months earlier.

There are Chicago area quakes documented as far back as 1899. Infrequent enough to make it notable when it does happen, but still... :)

Rene la Frog said...

I was born and raised in a very active earthquake area of Califonia and while I was use to them they still do "shake" you up a bit. I'm waiting for one to hit us here in Vegas, the "Strip" is built right over a fault and what a mess that would be if one hit there.

Sharon said...

Wow, how interesting. I would have never guessed. I am glad to here you are fine!

Anonymous said...

They do shake you up, don't they?

We have earth tremours quite often, you can feel them upstairs and not downstairs, so you know they are pretty mild.

Jenna said...

Wow, I've never experienced anything of the sort. Glad you're okay, though. :)