Southern Illinois earthquake rattles Chicago area

WEST SALEM, Ill. — Residents across the Midwest were awakened Friday by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago’s Loop, and homes in Cincinnati but appeared to cause no major injuries and only minor damage to buildings.

Several aftershocks followed, one with a magnitude of 4.6.

The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 45 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Milwaukee, Des Moines, Iowa, and Atlanta, nearly 400 miles to the southeast.

“I just saw my house just shake. Golly,” said Mike Morrow, of Mount Carmel, Ill., 15 miles southeast of the epicenter, his eyes widening during an aftershock that hit as he was interviewed by a reporter.

Morrow’s two-story apartment building was evacuated because of loose and falling bricks. The initial quake woke the 30-year-old and startled his pit bull.

“He was about as scared as I was,” Morrow said. “We both just froze.”

Midwesterners, most unaccustomed to earthquakes powerful enough to loosen bricks and crack foundations, traded stories as the day began.

“It shook our house where it woke me up,” said David Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign. “Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It’s not like California.”

Janet Clem, 37, of Mount Carmel, opened her front door after hearing “a heckuva rumble then a loud kaboom,” and found her front porch collapsed. “I’m terrified, I’m not going to lie to you,” she said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that and I don’t want to experience it again.”

The quake rattled a large swath of the nation, from Wisconsin to Georgia and from Kentucky to Iowa.

Bonnie Lucas, a morning co-host at WHO-AM in Des Moines, said she was sitting in her office when she felt her chair move. She grabbed her desk, and then heard the ceiling panels start to creak. The shaking lasted about 5 seconds, she said.

“This was widely felt, all the way to Atlanta, a little bit in Michigan,” said United States Geological Survey geophysicist Carrieann Bedwell.

The quake is believed to have involved the Wabash fault, a northern extension of the New Madrid fault about six miles north of Mount Carmel, Ill., said USGS geophysicist Randy Baldwin.

The last earthquake in the region to approach the severity of Friday’s temblor was a 5.0 magnitude quake that shook a nearby area in 2002, Baldwin said.

“This is a fairly large quake for this region,” he said. “They might occur every few years.”

Initially reported as a 5.4-magnitude earthquake, the USGS revised its estimate to 5.2. Besides the 4.6 magnitude aftershock, two others were measured at 2.6 and 2.5.

In Cincinnati, Irvetta McMurtry said she felt the rattling for up to 20 seconds.

“All of a sudden, I was awakened by this rumbling shaking,” said McMurtry, 43. “My bed is an older wood frame bed, so the bed started to creak and shake, and it was almost like somebody was taking my mattress and moving it back and forth.”

There were very few reports of damage in West Salem, a small town of 1,100 dotted by brick buildings and ranch-style homes in the middle of farm country.

“We’re very thankful we had no one injured,” said Harvey Fenton, West Salem’s police and fire chief. He said a chimney fell off the roof of one house and there were various reports of cracks in walls.

Fenton was asleep in his house when the earthquake hit.

“A major shaking is the best way I can describe it,” said Fenton, 58, who wasn’t sure what to make of the sudden rumbling, thinking it was thunder or perhaps an explosion.

In Louisville, where the quake knocked bricks off part of a building near downtown, Mayor Jerry Abramson admonished the public to avoid inundating the emergency system with calls out of mere curiosity. Metro emergency officials received more than 400 calls in the first half hour, compared to the 20 or 30 calls normal for that time of day.

Crews inspected bridges, airports and power plants throughout the Midwest, finding no big problems. Spans across the Mississippi, Wabash and Ohio rivers were inspected for cracks, missing bolts and buckling.

Early homeowner damage claims received by State Farm, the largest provider of earthquake coverage in the area, were mostly for cracks in drywall and foundations, said spokeswoman Missy Lundberg.

The quake shook skyscrapers in downtown Indianapolis, about 160 miles northeast of the epicenter and in Chicago’s Loop, 230 miles north of the epicenter.

Chicago officials were checking structures downtown to ensure there was no damage.

The strongest earthquake on record with an epicenter in Illinois occurred in 1968, when a 5.3-magnitude temblor was recorded about 75 miles southeast of St. Louis, according the USGS. The damage was minor but widespread and there were no serious injuries.

In 1811 and 1812, the New Madrid fault produced a series of earthquakes estimated at magnitude 7.0 or greater said to be felt as far away as Boston. They were centered in the Missouri town of New Madrid (pronounced MAD rid), 140 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Experts said that with the much higher population in the Midwest, another major quake along the New Madrid fault zone could destroy buildings, bridges, roads and other infrastructure, disrupt communications and isolate areas.