Yesterday at about 5:38 in the morning Cincinnati time there was a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in Illinois, just past the Indiana border about 60 miles northwest of Evansville, IN, and it rattled pretty much everyone from Iowa to Atlanta. Now me, personally, I woke right up and thought earthquake and find a door frame. However some other people in the area did not and here are some of the things I heard yesterday:
- I thought it was the washing machine off balance
- I thought it was a low flying airplane
- I thought it was the furnace
- I thought it was the dog
I am sure these all seemed plausible at the time, but come on people use a little common sense. If the earth is shaking, rattling and rumbling for 10 seconds, and it woke you up. It is an earthquake! The only excuse above that is somewhat plausible to me is the airplane.
I only talked to one person yesterday who also knew to look for a door frame.
In all fairness the last time I felt an earthquake in Ohio was in the late 80’s when I was in 3rd or 4th grade and walking back to class from the playground.
So for some people this was a once in a lifetime experience. At about 11:15, a 4.5 magnitude aftershock occurred and for a co-worker, it was the first time in his 40+ years he ever felt an earthquake. But he did admit to waking up at 5:40 and wasn’t sure why, other than he normally wakes up about that time.
As an aside, I initially thought I felt the aftershock because I didn’t think I would feel a 5.4 magnitude 200 miles away, but apparently the midwest sits on an ancient and very rigid rock bed, and so according to geologists, quakes in the midwest are felt much farther away than those of comparable size which occur more frequently on the west coast.
