Community | February 10, 2010 | 24 comments

Illinois Earthquake 3.8, first reported 4.3

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maurajriordan
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010snay.php

I live in Illinois and just woke up to my bed shaking. Of course assuming it was and earthquake(or possession) I googled. There I discovered I had just experienced my first earthquake... On a minorly related point, support Haiti.
Obviously, this earthquake was not a big deal at all, it's just not as common in Illinois.
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24 comments // Illinois Earthquake 3.8, first reported 4.3

  • lordsbassman
  • officialmtcm
    • 0
      officialmtcm  

    • I woke up to an earthquake this morning, reminded me of back home in Cali I though I was having a nightmare, hope we don't get another one. Glad it was minuscule and grateful that Illinois isn't known for having devastating earthquakes but now I have to worry about tornadoes...if its not one thing it's another.

    • 2 years ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +1
      EthicalVegan  

    • If you've never before experienced an earthquake then, even when it's a considerably small one, it's quite shocking. That's why I'd asked Maura if she herself was okay.

      When I first moved to California, we had a small one but, to ME -- having never felt one -- I got really scared. Fact is, I STILL get scared, every single time because, at the moment it begins, one is caught completely off-guard, and so it's abnormal to our bodies, and the fact that we just plain can't DO anything about it.

      When it's a rolling earthquake, I get sick to my stomach, because I have motion sickness and vertigo.

      Mind you, I experienced what was a 7.8 when the Northridge Earthquake (a thrust quake) hit on the 19th of February, 1994, and we lost just about everything. Plus, to see the two freeways (high above the ground) immediately break was horrible. We were landlocked for a very long time. In my own neighborhood, when we'd stand in line for water, we'd see so many others with casts on their arms or legs, since most of us got tossed up and out of our beds.

      And speaking of beds, mine was thrust so high up that, when it came crashing back down, it embedded itself in the floor. I couldn't get out of the bedroom, because my dresser had dropped back down in front of the door, which had slammed shut.

      Whew!

    • 2 years ago
  • jjammedjr
  • Pacard
    • 0
      Pacard  

    • I guess Illinois made a minor pact with Satan to be free from the French. JK.

      I'm a Cook County resident, though I didn't notice the quake.

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • ras_menelik
  • maurajriordan
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • maurajriordan:

      When all that snow melt water gets in the ground you might have another. I wouldn't exactly get the fine china out of the boxes yet. And saying other quakes were stronger doesn't mean much when you're in the middle of your personal quake. Just saying. If you have somewhere else you can be for a while it might be worth considering, see how the underground tree shakes out.

    • 2 years ago
  • ras_menelik
    • 0
      ras_menelik  
    • maurajriordan:

      Just putting a perspective on it I was in Oakland in '89 6.9 that would be 259 times stronger than what you had.

      P.S.
      The US Geological survey report that (as of the 5th of February, 2010) there have been 59 aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or greater. sixteen of which had magnitudes of 5.0 or above.

      The two largest aftershocks had a magnitude of 6.0 and 5.9. The magnitude 6.0 aftershock occurred 7 minutes after the main earthquake on the 12th of January and the magnitude 5.9 aftershock occurred at 11:03 GMT on the 20th of January.

      Non if this makes the 4.3 any weaker that is a strong quake!

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • ras_menelik:

      CNN scaled it down to 3.8 Ras. I don't know about any aftershocks. To tell ya the truth when they don't have an aftershock that kind of bothers me. It's off the norm. It's like the ground has turned to mush, which was why I was concerned about the snow melt.

      But, the ground is plenty solid up top since the shockwave traveled as far as it did eh?

    • 2 years ago
  • yargarita
    • 0
      yargarita  

    • Ok it was not a BIG earthquake but people did feel it. I however did not...womp womp. I was still in a very deep sleep at that time.

    • 2 years ago
  • jjammedjr
  • sgordy1
  • hannahHULKK
  • EthicalVegan
  • UrbanGypsy
    • +2
      UrbanGypsy  

    • Seems there's been an uptick in seismic activity recently. I keep hearing about earthquakes. Where are all the people who were saying this was caused by HAARP? I hope we got over that...

    • 2 years ago
  • Jubiejanks
    • 0
      Jubiejanks  

    • 4.3? That's cute. lol Just kidding. Glad to know it was a minor quake and that you're fine. So many earthquakes lately, I wonder when California will get hit? (Got family down in LA)

    • 2 years ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • 0
      EthicalVegan  

    • Here's what CNN writes:

      http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/10/illinois.earthquake/index.html?hpt=T1

      Earthquake rattles northern Illinois
      February 10, 2010 5:54 a.m. EST
      STORY HIGHLIGHTS

      * Magnitude 4.3 quake jolts parts of northern Illinois, USGS reports
      * Quake occurred nearly 50 miles west-northwest of Chicago
      * USGS says epicenter was 3 miles underground

      An earthquake rattled northern Illinois early Wednesday, shaking an area about 50 miles west-northwest of Chicago, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

      The magnitude 4.3 quake hit just before 4 a.m. CT (5 a.m. ET), with an epicenter about 3 miles underground.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • EthicalVegan:

      The Haiti quake was much deeper than this one right? So according to that "rule" Illinois should be gone right? This was a small quake, 4.3, but the significance of it is awesome due to how far away it was FELT in every direction.

      My feeling is it was an underground caldera explosion uhm implosion... and millions by all rights should have died many of them instantly. This implosion quake should have left a depressed crater in the ground visible from the MOON.

      This earthquake is an unexpected gut punch from nowhere, NO WARNING.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Perhaps this earthquake was just an Attention Getter with a hat tip to Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit. Definitely an attention getter for the entire American breadbasket. Gut punch, a good one at that.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • EthicalVegan
    • +1
      EthicalVegan  

    • Was the shaking enough to make you feel that, for at least those seconds, you had absolutely no control over yourself?

      Just imagine when it's a BIG earthquake! Glad you're okay.

      Support Haiti.

    • 2 years ago
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