Earthquake Strikes Illinois Today

The State of Illinois was hit by an earthquake today measuring 5.2 in magnitude on the Richter magnitude scale. Initial reports had the quake measured at 5.4 but that was later reduced to the lower level.

The earthquake struck at 4:36 AM local time and centered five miles from Bellmont, a tiny farm town close to the Wabash River, which marks the border with Indiana.

A second earthquake, an after shock hit at 10:14 AM local time measuring 4.6 in magnitude . Many other small aftershocks have been reported as well.

So far no reports of injuries or damages but the quake had skyscrapers swaying in Chicago and Indianapolis and was felt as far away as Milwaukee and Cincinnati.

Earthquakes are not only common in the region they produced two of the three strongest earthquakes in the continental United States. The fault running up the Wabash Valley is responsible for the New Madrid, MO. earthquake of December 1811 and February 1812, each thought to have been magnitude 8 or greater. (The strongest was a large magnitude 9 in the Pacific Northwest in January 1700, known mainly by the tsunami it created that lashed Japan.)

I had just posted information about the probability of an earthquake hitting California which included tips for earthquake safety.

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