So. Illinois Earthquake

[Taceas]

Magnitude 5.2 - 4:37am (CST)
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/...08/us2008qza6/

We were just getting settled into bed, finishing up a movie on the laptop when it started.

Its was a nice night, so I had the windows open and I heard the rumbling off to the west and thought it was a train, but never heard a horn with it. Then the the room and the bed jostled. We both first thought it was a mine blast, but then it jostled again bigger and kept getting worse. We jumped out of bed and stood in the doorway of the bedroom till it was over. All in all I'd say it lasted a good 50-60 seconds.

It skewed a few pictures on our walls and knocked several of my orchids off the coffee-table in the living room and out of the kitchen windowsill into the sink, scattering substrate every which way. It rearranged some glassware in my cabinets, but nothing broken. My first thought was my 72 gallon bow-front aquarium, but all of my aquariums rode through it fine. *knocks feverishly on wood*

We took a quick walk around the house with a flashlight and didn't notice any cracks around the bricks of our chimney or the house. Now that its light out, I still don't see any cracks in the mortar, so that's good. Guess it's a good thing we got the earthquake insurance add-on for $10 more, eh?

I counted 5-6 aftershocks that I could feel and see the water jug in the kitchen react to thus far. A couple being pretty sudden and jolting, not just a minor rumble.

I'm sure most of you in California and other earthquake prone areas are old hat at this sort of thing, but its a rare occurrence here in the heartland of the country. Although we are known for having pretty severe quakes, i.e. New Madrid quakes of 1811-1812. Not to mention our buildings and infrastructures aren't built for earthquakes in mind, lots of old brick and stone buildings that really suffer.

Anecdotally, our dog didn't want to come in that night since it was so nice out, so she had been snoozing out on the deck most of the evening. About 5-8 minutes before it started we heard her growl and give one bark. I don't know if its connected to the quake or not, she has a habit of random night-time barking at nothing in particular. What makes me kinda think its related is that it was a growl and a single bark, usually when she goes off at random stuff at night she'll bark for 5 minutes or so before I tell her to shush up.

So far we've had two aftershocks that were a 4.6 and 4.5 respectively, the latest happening today at 12:38am.

We were in the basement having just finished a movie and we heard that rumble off to the west about 5 seconds before it hit. Thankfully it was a quick, albeit strong jolt that lasted a few seconds then you could hear it move off to the east. Also anecdotally our cats were nowhere to be found prior to this latest aftershock. Usually they're all over us when we break out the warm, fuzzy blankets on the couch when we watch movies.

Another quake shakes southern Illinois - CNN.com

Luckily we've escaped damage to our brick home, after each aftershock I make a thorough inspection of the exterior of the house and don't see anything. My parent's house has a pretty large crack in the rear on the brick exterior basement wall that'll have to be addressed.

Epicenters of the main quake and various aftershocks in relation to our home:


And a couple of the minor effects after the initial 5.2 quake:


Those orchids were on the wood coffee table to the left.

Maybe it's a good thing I've not felt well over the past week and haven't got around to dusting the spare bedroom. That's how far the milk-glass compote and book moved after the first quake.

[hardwired]

Glad you rode through it O.K.!

[Russell]

wow! crazy stuff! glad your ok!

[FunkyRes]

Grew up in SFBA - been through many earthquakes, including the '89 quake - each and every one is something to be concerned about, because each and every one has the potential to have killed people, cause property damage, or be a foreshock to a bigger one.

Yes - I'm "old hat" to this sort of thing, but only a fool doesn't take them seriously.

Glad you are alright and did not suffer serious damage.

[Taceas]

The 4.5 has since been downgraded to a 4.0, I'm not sure how they do this or why. But at any rate it's being classified as another separate earthquake, not an aftershock of the original 5.2 quake.

This brings up another topic several of us locals have been discussing, and it seems to be on the minds of several local geologists as well, that these are foreshocks of something larger to come.

They had said something along the lines that these aftershocks aren't following the typical decay rate in time and magnitude is what's causing their thinking to rest on this train of thought.

I just know I'm super sensitive to any noise or motion and I find it hard to get a restful sleep these days. And I'm paying a lot more attention to the behaviour of my pets, no matter how small or insignificant it seems.