USA Today
Copyright 2008 USA Today
 AP Photo/The Courier-Journal, David Harpe An emergency vehicle waits at the scene where rubble lies strewn along a sidewalk in Ky., Friday, after a 5.2 earthquake. No major injuries were reported. |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — An earthquake shook a large area in the Midwest at 4:37 a.m. CT, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Seismologists say the epicenter of this magnitude 5.2 temblor was in southern Illinois, about 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.
As of right now, there are no reports of serious injuries or damage.
“It shook our house where it woke me up,” David Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign, tells the Associated Press. “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.”
Tremors were felt hundreds of miles away. We found reports from people who felt the quake in Kansas City, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Madison, Wis., Des Moines and near Atlanta.
Gary Patterson, a geologist at the University of Memphis, tells the Evansville Courier-Press that this is the first quake in that area since 1968. He explains why it was felt so far away: “Obviously, it depends on what the soil is where you’re at, and what type of building you’re in. A person jogging down the street in Kansas City didn’t feel this, but a person in a 20-story building there would have felt it.”
Update at 9:49 a.m. ET: Our corporate cousins at the Indy Star and Detroit Free Press report that the pre-dawn earthquake shook things up in their communities, too.
“It felt like somebody was at the end of my bed, shaking it to get me up,” Elisabeth Pinnegar, a Vincennes University student, tells the Star.
James Child, a Michiganer, tells the Freep that he knew right away that Mother Earth was delivering his wake up call. “It was unmistakable,” Childs says.