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Illinois Quake? Wow

Posted Apr 18, 08 6:54 PM CDT in US 

(Newser) – A geologist has sent a ripple of curiosity through the media by calling today's Illinois earthquake “not unusual," ABC News reports. The 5.2 temblor, which caused no injuries or major damage, is one of many the state has experienced since 1795. One rocked 500,000 square miles in 1909. "Is this an earthquake zone?" researcher Nano Seeber asked. "Yes."

New York, Boston, and Memphis are all earthquake zones too. And East Coast quakes can wreak more damage because soil and bedrock there lets waves travel farther. "The waves go through and go for a longer distance" in Midwestern and Eastern states, Seeber said. "It's well-known the same size earthquake can do a lot more damage."

Source ABC News

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Bricks from this chimney in Louisville, Ky., fell after the earthquake.   (AP Photo)
An emergency vehicle waits at the scene where rubble from earthquake damage lies strewn along a sidewalk.   (AP Photo)
Mike Dunkelcleans up damaged stock in his Mt. Carmel, Ill., liquor store Friday morning April 18, 2008 after early morning earthquake struck in the Midwest.   (AP Photo/ Daniel R. Patmore)
The approximate epicenter, extent and seismic zone of origination of a magnitude-5.2 earthquake in the Midwest.   (AP Photo)
Tim Kusky, director of the Center for Environmental Sciences at Saint Louis University, points to seismic data.   (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
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earthquake • Illinois • natural disaster • Midwest • Richter scale


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