Ok, the allcaps may not be appropriate in the title. Looks like there was a magnitude 5.2 earthquake about 26 miles southwest of Vincennes at 5:30 this morning.
Update Wow, I hadn’t checked the blogs this morning, but it looks like the local blogosphere is abuzz about the earthquake:
Fort Wayne Observed.
Marc Rust.
Berry Street Beacon.
Advance Indiana.
Indiana Barrister.
Update 2 I had thought I’d slept through the earthquake entirely, but Amy reminded me of an incident during the night that must’ve been the earthquake, but which I had forgotten. We have a bookshelf next to the bed with some sliding doors that rattle when the bookshelf is jostled. At some point, I remember thinking that one of the dogs was up against the bookshelf and scratching because the doors kept rattling and rattling. I vaguely recall noticing that none of the dogs were there and trying to move the door into a position that wouldn’t rattle, then laying down and zonking out again. Clearly I wasn’t fully awake.
It woke me up. This was the fourth I’ve been in (second here in Indy). I’ve always been in bed… coincidence? This one was very rhythmic… shake, pause, shake, pause… While my first thought was “earthquake” my second was “or some large piece of machinery being used nearby.” My hanging wine glasses were tinkling and the pocket door on my bathroom was rattling.
It was one bang followed by mild shaking for almost a minute down here an hour east of Evansville.
There was no explaining it to the dogs, who were not at all cool with the experience.
In Columbus, it woke us up from bed. My 6 year old slept through it, but my 3 year old was scared.
Later, she told us that she was going to “haiii-YEAAHHHH!” (insert karate chop) the “shakey shakey thing”.
Felt like two of them, 5 seconds each with a 5 second pause. Very rhythmic, side to side.
Also, I noticed that the motion from side to side was from the ESE to the WNW, almost pointing to the epicenter. Very cool.
Yeah, I totally slept through it. My younger daughter cried, and my older daughter comforted her. My wife said I just snored.
Yippee. There was an earthquake. They happen in California all the time. I guess it’s a good thing it happened on a Friday so people could sit around the water cooler on the other side of my desk for 6 hours telling all their earthquake stories. It woke me up, sure, but then I went and took a shower and started my day, just like any other.
Yeah, the shaking was exactly side to side in relation to my orientation in the bed, which probably accentuated it somewhat.
I had been in one other one, in Richmond Indiana, probably when I was 12 or so. That one was louder and much stronger, although I think it was a 3.8 or some such strength. That one cracked the foundation of our house. Rev AJB was with me and we were pretty sure a truck had hit the house, initially.
The thing about both of them is the sound. Especially with this one that was less shaking, I got the idea I wasn’t really hearing the house or its contents shaking as much as I was hearing the earth itself, which although it was not loud at all (in fact very quiet) is pretty freaky. I mean, it was pretty obvious immediately what it was, and since it’s Indiana and it seemed pretty obvious that it wasn’t the huge one that is going to wipe everything out, it was fascinating to just kind of lay there and take it in, rather than be scared. But hearing the earth and feeling it move and realizing that probably a few hundred miles of earth is doing the exact same thing and there’s not a thing to be done about it, is a unique experience.
Russ,
It snows in Canada all the time. Every 10-15 years, it does Flordia. To them, it is a big deal. Same for many of us in Indiana when the ground shakes from 100 miles or more away.
Keep in mind that an earthquake in this area, due to the depth of the fault and the firmness of the ground, travels much farther here than in CA. Example here
Just felt the second one 45 minutes or so ago (second quake? aftershock? what is the difference?). USGS Link.
Hey doug, I tried submitting a comment about the second “event” with a link to the USGS site but it didn’t show up. Tried a second time, same result. Are you moderating anything with a link these days? If so, please delete one of them.
And if not, the URL is: http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/cus/
They did get caught up in the spam filter. Thanks for the heads up.
Jason, snow in Florida *would* be a bigger deal because they don’t have snowplows (which would significantly affect travel and infrastructure) and they have year-round agriculture there.
What were the effects of this earthquake? Nobody died, a couple of structures were damaged or fell (because they were old)… maybe it brings to mind that we should prepare for a big one, but we should always be prepared in case of emergency.
Actually, I meant a “dusting” of snow. None on the road, but enough to throw a snowball on the grass.
The point is, your coworkers would have spent the morning going on about something else if there wasn’t this to talk about. It is different, it is wierd, and people get excited about that. Nothing wrong with that.
Now, if there are a bunch of people going into a “The Sky is FALLING!” fit or worried that we’re becoming a new San Andreas, then they need a good shaking and slap on the face, “Airplane!” style.
Didn’t feel this one at all up in Lake county. My in-laws in Evansville were awakened by it.
T, I remember well the one we felt in Richmond. It was in the middle of the day on a Saturday. We were upstairs in our room by the dormer. For once we were actually sitting still; just talking. I remember the ceramic clowns that Aunt Jean had made for us were banging against the walls and the one bookshelf that is by the closet kept banging against the wall. Mom came up and yelled at us for rough housing. Of course when she saw the looks on our faces, she knew it wasn’t us. We went outside and the neighbors were starting to gather in their yards and share stories. Those who were outside when it hit didn’t feel it at all.
Twenty years ago in December the “experts” claimed that the “big one” was going to hit during finals week at IU. It was supposed to cause catastrophic damage to Bloomington. I recall having friends who chose not to study for their finals because of this!
Just coming off of tax season we closed our office the remainder of the week after April 15 and will go back to work Monday. It’ll seem strange to go home at 5:00 p.m. I didn’t feel yesterday morning’s quake but talked to several people who did, who said it woke them up. Apparently there was an aftershock about 11:15 yesterday morning, didn’t feel that one either. Thankfully the only damage reported here was some bricks being knocked off of a building in downtown Louisville. I checked my house out and it seemed to be Ok. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is busy checking bridges, the big ones of course being the Kennedy, which carries I-65 over the Ohio and the 2nd street bridge, which carries old U.S. 31 over the Ohio. No problems other than the ones already reported after last summer’s fiasco in Minneapolis.
The quake woke me up from my NW Indiana slumber.
I’m glad I experienced it. The wife and kids slept right through it.