The Chicago Tribune reports:
CHICAGO — A brief earthquake struck the Midwest early Monday, rattling windows and awakening sleeping residents from Wisconsin south to Missouri and from Indiana west to Iowa.
No injuries were reported from the quake, which occurred about 1:11 a.m. CDT.
Brian Lassige, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado, said the quake was magnitude 4.5, and its epicenter was about eight miles northwest of Ottawa in northern Illinois, close to the small village of Troy Grove. The rural area is about 70 miles west of Chicago.
Here’s what the U. S. Geological Survey has to say about the quake.
We don’t have these events very often here in the upper Midwest but we do have them. Whenever one occurs I always wonder if it’s the prelude to The Big One. No, I don’t mean that Big One. Not the San Andreas fault. The New Madrid fault.
Not a lot of people appear to be aware of it but the most severe earthquakes in U. S. history occurred along the New Madrid fault in Missouri. In 1811 and 1812 three earthquakes that measured 8.0 or greater on the Richter Scale happened there. Damage occured as far away as Charleston, SC and the shaking caused church bells to ring in Boston. The small town of New Madrid, MO was pretty much levelled by the quake, buildings were severely damaged in St. Louis, and the course of the Mississippi was changed. The USGS description is here.
To place it in some perspective, the Northridge, CA earthquake of 1994 measured 6.7 and the Kobe, Japan earthquake of 1995 measured 6.9 so we’re talking about earthquakes that were ten times as severe. The Northridge earthquake and the Kobe earthquake cause $20 billion and $100 billion in damages respectively.
If such earthquakes were to occur today, quite a few major U. S. cities would be at risk particularly Memphis, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Nashville. There would be a possibility of Memphis and St. Louis being levelled with some damage as far away as Chicago. For earthquake preparedness info see here.
So Glenn and Bill, this would be a good time to think about bolting heavy furniture (shelves and cupboards) to the wall, getting your fire extinguishers checked, etc. Those of us in earthquake zones should be prepared.
Ahh yes, the New Madrid fault. The wife and I sit patiently in Nashville awaiting the big one.
What people don’t realize is that Memphis and St. Louis would probably cease to exist when the fault goes again. It will be a tragedy beyond imagination, and no one will be prepared for it.
Regards,
Nathan Moore
http://www.moorelawfirmpc.com
Building codes in the Mid West have been strengthened to account for the New Madrid fault. The truth is that today there would be a lot of damage. In 100 years not much.
BTW my daughter(13) and I were awake for it. She was pretty alarmed and thought it was an earth quake. I said more likely blasting (At 1 AM local time?). She was right.
We checked for news right after it happened with no result. We were not certain until we woke up.
We live in Rockford, Illinois
I thought a car had run into the side of my apartment building; even heard a “thud” sound of some sort. Went to check the parking lot, nothing. I wasn’t exactly sure of the time, I put it right around 115am… but I’m one of those people who’s clocks are set 5 minutes ahead.
I, too, am in Rockford, IL… hi, M. Simon! We’ve e-mailed each other before! (waving wing)
Did we have an earthquake this morning at 4:00am here in Loves Park Illinois? There was a “shudder” and then a more substantial shake lasting 15 seconds total for both. So did the Midwest experience more than a tremor elsewhere?
You’re right, Karla.