Another earthquake felt in Southeast Missouri this morning

Another earthquake was felt in Southeast Missouri several hours after an early morning quake.

This quake happened at 10:14 a.m. local time, centered near West Salem, Ill., in the same vicinity as a 5.2 quake that hit early this morning. The second quake was a 4.5 magnitude, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Southeast Missourians felt their beds shake earlier this morning, heard their houses pop and crack and their knickknacks rattle, the result of not-so-subtle ripples from the 5.2 earthquake that happened earlier in southeastern Illinois.

The epicenter was also in West Salem, a tiny Southern Illinois town in Edwards County near the Indiana border.

Calls to the U.S. Geological Survey earthquake information center and the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis were not immediately returned following the later tremor felt in Southeast Missouri.

According to Dr. Nicholas Tibbs, professor emeritus of geosciences at Southeast Missouri State University, it is unlikely that the West Salem earthquakes, located in the Wabash Valley fault zone, would trigger a larger earthquake in Southeast Missouri along the New Madrid fault.

"My first reaction would be no," he said. He added that earthquakes on rare occasions have been known to trigger earthquakes in other faults.

The second quake felt in Southeast Missouri was only one of many aftershocks from the early morning quake, Tibbs said.

The first earthquake reportedly caused minor damage near the epicenter. West Salem Police Chief Harvey Fenton said the damage was limited to a few small cracks in walls.

"It sounded terrible for a while," he said. "We're extremely lucky."

A photographer in Mt. Vernon, Ill., captured an image of a porch awning that snapped away from the house during the quake.