earthquake in Chicago area

ILLINIgirl · #1 06-28-2004, 04:08 PM

So I get home today (monday) around 1am and I sat down to check my email when everything in my room starts to shake. I had no idea what was going on and it woke up my mom. So when I woke up this morning I found out it was an earthquake! I didn't know they could happen here (I live in the suburbs of Chicago) and I guess people all the way in St. Louis, Michigan, and Wisconsin felt it! The news said it had a magnitude of 4.1. Just had to share because I can't believe it happened.

Here's info on it!

PhiPsiRuss · #2 06-28-2004, 04:10 PM

Did anyone get hurt?

GeekyPenguin · #3 06-28-2004, 04:25 PM

News reports are saying no one is hurt - I definitely felt it, but it wasn't much more than the rumble of a train passing near your building or a jet flying overhead. I never really knew we could have earthquakes here!

#4 06-28-2004, 04:42 PM

Didn't feel this one, though it sounds like it did shake our area. I'm used to trains going by, though, so I guess it wasn't anything new.

I'm sort of sad I missed it.... we had one about 20 years ago in this area, and I remember feeling it on my way to school. It was sort of fun, in a "as long as it isn't strong enough to damage anything" sort of way.

DeltAlum · #5 06-28-2004, 05:10 PM

There are faults all over the country, including the Mid-West. I read somewhere, but remember no details, that there was a fairly significant quake in Colorado years ago.

ETA that I found this on the US Geological Survey webpage:

Near Denver, Colorado
11-8-1882 01:30 UTC
Magnitude 6.2
Intensity VII

This earthquake caused minor damage in Colorado and southern Wyoming and was felt slightly in Utah and Kansas. The location of this earthquake is very uncertain and has been postulated to have occurred in western Colorado or southern Wyoming.

In Denver, electricity was cut off after an iron bolt that connected an engine-driving pulley was broken in two at the electric power building; another bolt was bent out of shape. Buildings trembled violently and residents ran out of doors. Plaster fell and windows broke as far north as Laramie, Wyoming, and plaster fell from the ceiling of a building at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Observers also reported that the walls of the railroad depot in Louisville were cracked, that timbers cracked in a house at La Porte, and that walls of one house were cracked severely and plaster fell near Thompson, Colo. An aftershock on November 8 was reported to be almost as strong at the main shock in Laramie and Denver.

After posting this, I got curious and went to Google for "Earthquake in (state) I picked about ten states at random from all different areas of the country and every one had at least some history of earthquakes.

Sister Havana · #6 06-28-2004, 06:21 PM

I slept right through it!

AGDee · #7 06-28-2004, 11:02 PM

I worked as a campus operator in college at Eastern Michigan and we had an earthquake one day when I was by myself at the switchboard. The switchboard was in the basement and I felt nothing at all. The switchboard totally lit up and I was answering phones like crazy from college students asking "Did we just have an earthquake?"

Not sure why people think the campus operator would know anything about earthquakes...

Dee

Phasad1913 · #8 06-29-2004, 12:58 AM

My dad used to live in California and I would always be jealous that they had earthquakes there and I was never there when one occured. Now you mean to tell me that I was here in CHICAGO and we finally had an earthquake and I had no idea?!?!?!?! I am pissed.

phisigduchesscv · #9 06-29-2004, 01:14 AM

trust me on this one, you don't necessarily want to ever feel an earthquake especially like the bigger ones - Northridge, Simi (in the 70's), Landers, and although i didn't feel it the Loma Prieta. As a native California you know that it could happen at any time but when it does you have to wonder "is this the big one" - scientists keep saying that Southern California is overdue for a big one, as if Northridge wasn't big enough. The big one they are talking about will be on the San Andreas fault and if it does rupture besides lots of damage in L.A. you can probably expect Vegas too since it's not up to building standards.

As for earthquakes in the midwest, look for information on the New Madrid fault in the 1800's. It had the largest earthquake in recorded history of the U.S. they are even newspaper reports (and private diaries) reporting the Mississippi river flowed backwards for a short time.

emperorclb · #10 06-29-2004, 01:47 AM

Man I dont know, why you would want to feel an earthquake because its not fun at all. Im a native californian; i live in LA and it seems that its the only natural disaster that we have to deal with but its the worst in my opinion. Because the very thing you would never expect to move, shakes violently and there is nothing you can do to stop it and no way of knowing when it will happen. Man its the worst feeling in the world to know that the ground is moving and that buildings my fall. Its even crazy to see things during a earth quake , to watch the ground move man!!! Its not something you'd wanna see or even experience, except if its a simulation.