Earthquake in S. IL (Chicago, Edwardsville: houses, neighborhood, schools)

[aus10]

Being originally from S. IL (Lawrenceville/Mt. Carmel area) I wondered what everyone thought about the earthquake this morning. I am currently in New Mexico and not getting much news about what is going on back home. Anyone got any thoughts or stories?

[studedude]

Centered in West Salem some news reports are actually saying Mt Carmel. It measured 5.2 on the Ricter scale and has caused very little or no damage. I'm in the Chicago suburbs and felt nothing. A lot of people, in this area, who sleep lighter than I do did.

[myrc60]

They said here that it was centered in Evansville, IN. Our news was getting reports from people here that they felt it. I must have been sleeping

[studedude]

Interesting, Chicago news puts center in IL. S.C. news puts it in IN. I guess if you put it closer to your viewers more people stay tuned. What are the news reports in MO & KY saying?

[breer23]

USGS reports that the epicenter is nearest to West Salem, IL, about 40 miles NW on Evansville. Reports outside of the midwest might report it as Evansville just because it is the largest city in the area.

[eepi]

I felt it in the Edwardsville area quite strongly. I happened to be awake - woke up about a half-hour before. My cat was outside; when I let him in, he was quite clingy and vocal, but when the quaking actually began, I think he was asleep somewhere.

At first I wasn't sure what it could be. I looked outside to see if we had high winds (it was quite breezy yesterday) and also wondered about the refineries out towards the Wood River area, but when the trembling continued I decided it was indeed an earthquake.

I'm not quite sure how long it lasted. Long enough for me to arise from my chair, walk to the other side of the house to look out the window, and then back into the room where a picture hanging on the wall was rapping against where the brick chimney goes through the house. I held my hand against that to still it.

The birds commenced to chirp loudly. I don't think this began before the quaking, but rather afterward; yet, it's possible that I simply didn't notice as my mind was otherwise occupied.

Now that it is daylight, I see no damage. Our rickety backyard fence is still intact and standing, and our railroad-tie garden beds which are at risk of collapsing are also still intact.

I reported the earthquake on the USGS site here Did You Feel It?

It took a good half-hour before I could find anything on the local news channels and the Internet news. The USGS site notes the epicenter at 38.450°N, 87.890°W which is near Olney, Illinois. This link gives rather detailed information M 5.2 - ILLINOIS
However, I've seen a conflicting report noting the epicenter at Bellmont.

It should be noted that there was another earthquake in this area in 1987 of 5.1 magnitude, where the most serious damage was reported in Olney, and before that, in 1968 there was a 5.3 in the general region.

This is the Illinois Basin Ozark Dome, and is NOT the New Madrid.

Hope this is interesting and helpful.

[Steve-o]

I didnt feel a dang thing up here in the suburbs, but I guess some did? Crazy.

Hope everyone is alright down there.

[shadow91]

About 3 years ago in Ottawa, IL we had an earthquake at 1 am. It literally threw me out of the bed, my son out of his computer chair. Then there was a large boom. The whole neighborhood was outside trying to see what it was. Who would have thought an earthquake, but the next day confirmed it. Seems they might be getting more frequent. Pretty scary though.

[studedude]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

I didnt feel a dang thing up here in the suburbs, but I guess some did? Crazy.

Hope everyone is alright down there.

What part of the country is falling off. I don't know if we, in the western burbs, are going to have beach front property on the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf or Lake Superior?

[illini84]

My parents live right by the epicenter (reported to be near Mt. Carmel/West Salem) and they said they were literally thrown out of bed this morning when it hit. They said it knocked over a lot of the lighter things in the house and knocked a few pictures off the wall, but there wasn't any severe damage. They were still feeling aftershocks about every 30 minutes this morning. Some older buildings in the area though had some bricks come out, so the firefighters were going around today to check people's houses and to check for any gas leaks. I think a couple of the schools may have suffered a little damage. Pretty big deal for an earthquake to hit the Midwest!