An Earthquake this morning

[AF9J]

Did anybody feels this morning's 5.4 earthquake?  It happened around 4:37 AM CDT, and was centered in West Salem, IL (about 66 miles from Evansville, IN). The 'quake was in the New Madrid Fault zone (you know, the zone where those 8.0 earthquakes occurred in the eraly 1800s).  The quake was felt in Indianapolis, Louisville, and even as far north (according to the local news) as Milwaukee and other southern Wisconsin locales (over 350 miles away).  The New Madrid fault earthquake mechinics are a little different from  the more typical type we hear about in California, etc.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[WD8BIL]

Did anybody feels this morning's 5.4 earthquake?

Yup ! It was no match for the quake of '86 but we did shake a bit here in Lorain, OH.
Reports on the morning news here say even Youngstown, Ohio felt it. Probably noticable in Ashtabula too.

[NE4AM]

They felt it in Cedar Rapids this morning, too.

73 - Dave

[WBear2GCR]

Earthquake?

Nah, someone just dropped a big mod transformer!   


                       _-_-bear

[WQ9E]

Someone must have dropped another one Bear as we just had a pretty big aftershock at about 10:18.  Apparently this was aftershock # 6 but the first one felt here in central IL since the actual quake.

Rodger WQ9E

[K8WBL]

I was awake at 5:30am in Cincinnati when I felt it.  First thought it was the dog, lying on my bed scratching herself, I kicked her off, but then it didnt stop.  Guess I have to apologize to my dog now. hi hi

73, Tim K8WBL

[W9GT]

Yes!! We felt it here in Fort Wayne.  Not violent, but a very strong low frequency vibration shook the house and the windows.  Kinda like a big cement truck going down the street in front of our house.  I was awake and wondered what it was until we tuned into the news on TV this morning.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[N8LGU]

Tim's dog probably wondered "What the Hell's wrong with him?"

[k4kyv]

I was awake at 5:30am in Cincinnati when I felt it.  First thought it was the dog, lying on my bed scratching herself, I kicked her off, but then it didnt stop.

We heard or felt it this morning too.  At first thought it was the cat, who usually sleeps at the foot of the bed.  He jumped down at the  first shake, and it seemed unusual for him to shake the house that much.  My wife was the first to suggest it might have  been an earthquake.  Sure enough, the news this morning...

It occurred about 0930 GMT, but that's about the exact time when we felt it.  It should have taken the shock wave about 15 minutes to reach here.  Haven't figured out the time discrepancy.  Does the shock wave travel that much faster through the ground than sound travels through the air?

[AF9J]

Yes it does Don,

Typically, due to the medium being solid (in this case the ground or the rock that makes up the crust depper down), an earthquake shockwave moves at about 3-4 miles per second.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[W1RKW]

Didn't notice it here in CT.  We had one about 2 months or so ago.  It amounted to a 2.5  from what the USGS stated.

I remember a quake 15 or so  years ago and it shook things pretty good. It was mild in comparison to the ones I've experienced out west. But I remember it thinking an 18 wheeler was barreling down my road yet there were no vehicles.  The next day the new reported it and I put 2 and 2 together.  That was my first experience with a shaker.   I don't remember what the Richter value was then but it was larger than 2.5.

Here you can locate global earthquake activity. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/    Plenty of activity worldwide.

I wonder how much that we could potentially feel but don't or ignore.

And it looks like Timtron has some shaking going on up his way.  What are you doing up there?
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/44.46.-71.-69.php

[ka3zlr]

More than 4000 quakes recorded since 1974, wow i was not aware of that...well let's hope it doesn't get more intense...

[W3SLK]

Don said:

We heard or felt it this morning too.  At first thought it was the cat, who usually sleeps at the foot of the bed.  He jumped down at the  first shake, and it seemed unusual for him to shake the house that much.

That must be one king sized kitty Don! I gues the New Madrid fault may be getting active a few years later than predicted. I recall a fellow making a prediction about it back not too long ago.

Which reminds me. When I was in the Navy, I got shipped out to Mare Island, Vallejo, CA for training for a year. I half expected to feel what an earthquake was all about since I was right near the 'mouth of the dragon'. Hell we didn't have anything when I was there but PA had a 3.2 jobber. It always happens behind me.

[wa2dtw]

I was in downtown Chicago yesterday (16 floor) at the time and didn't feel a thing.  Either Chicago was too far away from the epicenter, or else I just slept through it.
73
Steve WA2DTW

[WB3JOK]

It sure got my attention during my visit to St. Louis! I was on the 6th floor of the Harrah's Casino hotel, sound asleep, and the bed started shaking vigorously (felt like at least a couple of inches of wave motion).

By the time I figured out it was an earthquake, there wasn't much to do about it. So I rolled over and went back to sleep. That morning at breakfast everyone was talking about it. Something like 130 miles east of St. Louis and a 5.6 magnitude, I believe.

Didn't notice the aftershock since I was too busy losing money in the casino 

That quake was a first time experience for me. Don't care to repeat 

-Charles