Who Felt the Earthquake??

[Marker]

I was just getting to work at 4:30 this morning, but didn't feel a thing. Although I've heard reports from people who say they felt it here in KC.

Wouldn't be the first one I've felt here in my lifetime.

[Shugoondola]

It's really funny that you all are describing it like "rolling waves." I asked my husband this afternoon what it felt like (I slept through it) and he said "the best way to describe it is like going over small waves when you're on a boat."

That's exactly what I was thinking it felt like.

[k_reile]

i'm in nw ohio and felt it about 5:30am or so (my clock is always wrong) and it woke me up. Just felt the house mildly moving. I figured it was something...I thought maybe an earthquake but wasn't sure. When DH got up I asked him if he felt it...he did not...slept right through it. He thought I was crazy. Then he turns on the tv and they said something about an earthquake...he had to admit that I actually felt something!

Also, if there is supposedely a "big one" and devestation could be from hundreds of miles out....remember that earthquakes are not covered from your homeowners insurance. You have to have a special endorsement on your policy. I am an agent...and just checked on mine...it would be an additional $58 dollars a year. Just a heads up for if it would actually happen...please be insured properly or you are going to have a mess on your hands.

[Aurora]

We felt it in Chicago -- woke me up because my bed was "wiggling" back and forth. DH was sleeping downstairs 'cuz he had to get up early to go to work -- I went downstairs and said, "did you feel that?" He said "yeah, twice." We both just knew it was an earthquake.

We live in a frame house and this really makes me think about taking out earthquake coverage. I'm sure I'm not alone.

[Jasper]

Also, if there is supposedely a "big one" and devestation could be from hundreds of miles out....remember that earthquakes are not covered from your homeowners insurance. You have to have a special endorsement on your policy. I am an agent...and just checked on mine...it would be an additional $58 dollars a year. Just a heads up for if it would actually happen...please be insured properly or you are going to have a mess on your hands.

This is a very good point! We were looking for insurance several years ago when we moved to a new house and discovered this by accident. My wife thought I was crazy for insisting that we purchase it but now she is singing a different song.

[Tinkermom]

Since we live in the midwest I checked out some info about the New Madrid fault line. I read much of the same info on several other sites. I think I found it most fanscinating that the Mississippi actually flowed backwards for a time after the 1812 quake (even though the below info does not mention it I did read that in several other articles),WOW!:

From St Charles County (Missouri) Division of Emergency Management:

THE NEW MADRID FAULT SYSTEM EXTENDS 120 MILES SOUTHWARD from the area of Charleston, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, through New Madrid and Caruthersville, following Interstate 55 to Blytheville and on down to Marked Tree, Arkansas. It crosses five state lines and cuts across the Mississippi River in three places and the Ohio River in two places.

THE FAULT IS ACTIVE, AVERAGING MORE THAN 200 MEASURED EVENTS per YEAR (1.0 or more on the Richter scale), about 20 per month. Tremors large enough to be felt (2.5 - 3.0 on the Richter scale) are noted annually. Every 18 months the fault releases a shock of 4.0 or more, capable of local minor damage. The most recent registering 4.3 along the New Madrid Fault on Thanksgiving evening, 1996, which was felt by citizens in the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, Illinois and Mississippi. Magnitudes of 5.0 or greater occurring about once per decade, can do significant damage, and be felt in several states.

THE GREAT NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE OF 1811-1812 was actually a series of over 2000 shocks in five months, five of which were 8.0 or more in magnitude. Eighteen of these rang church bells on the Eastern seaboard. The very land itself was destroyed in the Missouri Bootheel, making it unfit even for farmers for many years. It was the largest burst of seismic energy east of the Rocky Mountains in the history of the United States and was several times larger than the San Francisco quake of 1906.

WHEN WILL ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE HAPPEN THE SIZE OF THOSE IN 1811-1812? Several lines of research suggest that the catastrophic upheavals like those in 1811-12 visit the New Madrid region every 500-600 years. Hence, emergency planners, engineers, and seismologists do not expect a repeat of the intensity of the 1811-12 series for at least 100 years or more. However, even though the chance is remote, experts assign a 3% probability of a major earthquake by the year 2040. Earthquake probabilities for known active faults always increase with time, because stresses within the earth slowly and inexorably mount, year by year, until the rocks can take no more, and sudden rupture becomes inevitable.

OUR GREATEST CONCERNS ARE THE 6.0-7.6 SIZED EVENTS, which do have significant probabilities in the near future. A 6.0 shock has a 90% chance by the year 2040. Damaging earthquakes of this magnitude are a virtual certainly within the lifetimes of our children.

[GoldenMickey]

I woke up with a jolt and my husband heard rattling on the roof - I asked him why he was shaking the bed. He said why is the vcr (on top of the tv) shaking? We were really half asleep, but it just did not stop! When it stopped, he got up and went to look at the vcr and I had rolled over - the bed started to shake again and I thought for sure he was doing something... but he was by the vcr. Today he said that last night he heard rattling on the roof and just could not figure it out and distinctive noises in the hall and thought we were being robbed which is what made him get up in the first place. After reading all of the threads on this, I think some research is in order. Not only would we not be prepared, but we would not even recognize it!

[momof3+twins]

I can't believe this was felt in WI. Awesome.I actually checked mapquest to see how far we are from the epicenter. And we are about 100 miles from it here in Missouri. It was wild. First, I thought my kids were running in the room very very loudly, then I thought my cat lost her mind. It started in the front of the house so I heard it there first and that is why I thought the kids and cat lost their minds. But, then the loud roar started, window were rattling, the dishes in the kitchen were rattling. My husband jumped out of bed and said tornado. I though the same thing so we ran into the hall and the loud roar and rattling windows stopped. Then, my husband walked into the kitchen and said the cabinets were moving. It took us a little bit but then we said An Earthquake? We waited along with the kids to see if the news would break in and sure enough they came on. And he said "Yes, that was an earthquake." It was freaky and the house vibrated and I think we got it pretty good here but it wasn't as bad as some storms we get.
And yes New Madrid, is very close. That is actually what I thought it was. Never heard of this fault. New Madrid is supposed to be awful. I have been scared of that since I was a kid.

[KEYONNAH]

I live in central Illinois and felt it at 4:30 and 10:30 am. I felt my windows shaking during the first and watched my co-worker's computer shake during the second.