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A 5.2 magnitude earthquake jostled the Midwest at 4:37 this morning. Even though it's one of the strongest ever in Illinois, it's technically not that big of an earthquake, and no injuries or severe damage have been reported. The quake was centered in West Salem, about 230 miles from here, and people felt the tremors as far as 900 miles away.
According to the US Geological Survey, "moderately damaging" earthquakes occur in the Illinois Basin/Ozark Dome region every 10-20 years, with smaller earthquakes happening as often as twice a year. Midwestern earthquakes are felt over much bigger areas than Western earthquakes.
As in most other areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards in the Illinois basin – Ozark dome region is the earthquakes themselves.
Coincidentally, today's the 102nd anniversary of the San Fransisco Earthquake. [USGS, S-T, Trib, CNN]
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One of the craziest earthquakes that EVER happened was in Southern MO in 1812, just no one cares because there were NO HOUSES there then, so everyone is all "San Fran, San Fran! CALI is sinking in the ocean!" I am saying, according to Wikipedia, on this fault:
"The probability of magnitude 6.0 or greater in the near future is considered significant; a 90% chance of such an earthquake by 2040 has been given."
This was NOTHING.
This woke both me and my dog up, who let out a startled bark. Either the floors or the walls of my condo were creaking--something I don't recall ever happening before. Thinking somebody had possibly broken into my place and was walking around the living room, I tentatively went out to investigate. When I didn't see anything out of place, I briefly considered whether my place was haunted...
That's when I checked under the kitchen sink and noticed the jar of orangecello I had begun preparing the night before (my progress is outlined in the comments section under the original Chicagoist post from two years ago), and its liquid contents were swaying back and forth...
Pretty cool stuff for a flatlander such as myself who has never experienced anything like this before (at least not while awake)...
usually i'm a light sleeper, but i was drunk last night and slept through it. my roomie, however, felt it.
also, my co-worker claimed to have just felt an aftershock and the USGS seems to have confirmed it.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/quakes_all.php
spav: well yeah it was nothing, but how often do you feel earthquakes in illinois? especially 230 miles from the epicenter?
it woke me up.. my bed felt like it became magic-fingers enhanced.
this was my first earthquake ever! always special when you can experience it in your own home and in freakin chicago no less! i was awakened by my bed shaking/shimmy-ing sideways. very, very neat.
i missed it. i'm pissed. but yeah, i've always heard that the biggest earthquake the U.S. will ever see is going to have its epicenter in tennessee or something. and it's going to be crazytown.
I think you folks are flat out lying. Did any one near Logan Square feel it?
Awww, Spook!
You're just being sour grapes because you were probably out drinking last night and slept through it...
You can see where people fell it here.
*felt.
It woke me up too. I honestly thought I was losing my mind.
I felt it in the West Loop, 10 floors up. When I figured out that husband was not the culprit of the shaking bed, I initially blamed it on the cat...
I live in Logan Square and I didn't feel shit. Then again, I sleep through the loud garbage truck right outside my window.
Felt it too - Buena Park area, 7 floors up. Shook my bed, bookcases, etc. Woke me up. I'd been in one before on a trip to L.A. so I recognized the sensation but still kinda freaked out a little because this is Chicago, and we don't get them here, right? :) I feared it might've been a sign of a really big one down on the New Madrid fault.
I felt it in Old Town, 18th floor. Little front-to-back shimmy in my bed.
It scared the bajeezus out of me! At first I thought I was losing my mind or there was a poltergeist under my bed, but then my sister barged in and said "DID YOU FEEL THAT, TOO?"
I thought it was a lot of fun!
Felt it in Roscoe Village. It woke me up when my bed started vibrating. And I'm a heavy sleeper. I fell back asleep before I could figure out what it was. Crazy, but cool (seeing as no one got hurt!)
It woke me up in Logan Sq. I just thought my roommate and his girlfriend were having a go at it.
I'm in Logan Square near the intersection of California and Fullerton, and I felt it. I had trouble sleeping and was up and on the computer when my chair kind of fluttered for a few seconds. I actually assumed it was a truck passing on Fullerton, even though I hadn't heard anything. Then I saw the news a couple of hours later and made the connection.
And I think if the big one ever hits New Madrid, we'll know it. It'll be more than a little flutter, I can assure you.
"This was NOTHING."
I agree, its only a matter of when the New Madrid hits again, not if. The 1812 quake caused the Mississippi River to reverse course for christ sake. And as you mention the area was sparsely populated at the time. Take a look around today and glance at how many brick buildings are in the city..all those walk ups would be toast. St Louis would really be the one to get the brunt of it though.
felt nothing down in Pilsen.
Then again, I've slept through everything except lightning striking a tree outside once.
Not to overstate it, though ... a google search on Mercalli scale with reference to the New Madrid Fault suggests we'd feel a replay of 1811-1812 pretty severely, but it's unlikely any but the most dilapidated Chicago structures will suffer severe damage. (Finally, a solution for the former Cook County Hospital and the Post Office ... though that one doesn't work out for Eisenhower commuters.) St. Louis would get it worse than we would, but probably nothing worse than, say, Loma Prieta in 1994, perhaps even San Francisco in 1989 ... I wouldn't want to be in the arch, but I'd be okay most other places.
Memphis, on the other hand, would cease to exist.
Of course, that's all in my old stomping grounds. What other readers of this site can say they got a day off school in 1990 because of crazy old Iben Browning?
Blue: The arch was actually built to withstand seismic activity. It can sway a foot and a half.
"What other readers of this site can say they got a day off school in 1990 because of crazy old Iben Browning?"
I can. Well, the whole school basically had an unofficial skip day. I think I got drunk.
Sparky's right about the Arch, but we'll have to see how much the soil liquifies, I guess.
Yeah, I think liquifaction's the bigger issue with the arch, as that particular segment of St. Louis could very easily become part of the Mississippi. I don't know what's under the arch, though, whether the thing's built on sand or bedrock or what.
And sparky's right about the strength of the arch. Nevertheless, I don't relish the idea of swaying a foot and a half, even if it doesn't fall. And then there'd be the wait to get down ... all in all, not a fun day. :-)
Blue - I lived in Huntsville, Alabama at the time. Did you ever think you'd hear about alabama schools conducting earthquake drills?