Earthquake shakes six Midwest states

Camila Holbrook was at her log home in Jackson, Mo., grabbing a quick bite Tuesday afternoon when the shaking started.

"It was very strong," Holbrook said. "Our whole house was shaking. The stair railing started vibrating. It was very intense there for a bit."

A number of similar reports came in Tuesday as a moderate earthquake hit the Midwest at 12:37 p.m., causing shaken homes and frightened children but no serious damage, authorities said.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 5.0, which classifies it as moderate. The epicenter was nine miles northwest of Evansville, Ind. Experts said the earthquake was not part of the New Madrid Fault.

Many said they could not feel the earthquake, but for those who did, it was a vivid experience.

"I thought it was a tornado so I ran outside to see if it was raining," said Tracy Mushonga of Cape Girardeau. "It felt like when a plane flies over your house."

Mushonga said the earthquake shook windows at her home in the Red Star district. It also frightened her children, especially one who thought there was something on the roof.

But those who were closer to the earthquake's epicenter saw a more drastic impact.

"Initially, it was this thunderous noise, and then the actual vibration," said Vicki Stuffle, an employee of Old National Bank in Darmstadt, Ind., a town near the epicenter. "We actually saw the building moving."

The quake was hard enough to sound the bells inside a church steeple there, she said. It also knocked out telephone service at Carmi, Ill., and Grayville, Ill.

Dr. Eugene Schweig, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist in Memphis, Tenn., said that no damage reports had been made, but the office received calls about shattered windows and broken chimneys in the Evansville area.

The earthquake could be felt in Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, he said. Local authorities said they had received no damage reports.

Schweig said the earthquake was not a part of the New Madrid Fault, which extends 120 miles into Southeast Missouri and Arkansas. Tuesday's quake was a part of the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone.

In March a small earthquake registering 3.6 was centered just outside of Leopold, Mo. While some say that smaller earthquakes are precursors to larger ones, Schweig said that is rarely the case.

"You only know that in retrospect," he said. "There's no reason to assume that's so. Having a 5-point earthquake every few decades would not be something unusual."

The local Center for Earthquake Studies at Southeast Missouri State University was inundated with calls during the early afternoon from people who said they had felt their homes shake or windows rattle.

"I've been getting calls from all over the United States," said Kathleen Lordo, an education specialist for the center, which is geared toward educating people about earthquakes. "I've had solid calls since 12:40. Their dogs are freaking out or they felt something or saw something rattling."

Dr. Nicholas Tibbs, the director of the center in Cape Girardeau, said that four seismographs in the New Hamburg, Mo., area picked up the earthquake activity. That information is sent through computers at the university to Washington University for monitoring.

"This wasn't a serious earthquake," he said. "It's just a real attention-getter."

Tibbs said that the earthquake should be a reminder to be prepared.

"It's a shame that it takes something like this to think about safety," he said. "Most people know we're at risk and choose to ignore it rather than prepare for it."

Many people said they felt no shaking, or thought little of what they did notice.

Steve Trautwein was teaching a class at Southeast Missouri State University when the quake hit. He said the floor began to sway a little bit, but he didn't think much of it.

At the same time the door to the classroom began to click in and out of the door frame, which sounded to Trautwein like someone was knocking on the door.

Vicky Moyers, who lives on Henderson Street in Cape Girardeau, said at first she thought it was the dog scratching. But Moyers, who is from earthquake-prone California, said she soon realized what it was.

"I heard rattling and I looked up at the light and the chain was swinging," she said. "After all the years out there, you're always ready to get under a doorway."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137

jjoffray@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 226

The Associated Press, the Evansville Courier Press and staff writer Heather Kronmueller contributed to this report.