The Associated Press
April 18, 2008 07:17 pm
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INDIANAPOLIS — No significant damage has been reported in Indiana after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.2 struck the Midwest Friday morning.
The quake just before 4:37 a.m. Central time was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 45 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Des Moines, Iowa, 450 miles northwest of the epicenter.
“We have some minor reports of glass breakage and perhaps a mobile home may have come off its foundation,” said Joe Wainscott Jr., executive director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
Wainscott said some damage might not yet be apparent. Indiana Department of Transportation crews immediately began inspecting bridges and overpasses along such highways as Interstate 64 and U.S. 41 in southwestern Indiana, he said. He said as of midmorning the inspections were nearly completed and there were no reports of damage.
“The things on my curio were rattling and the water in the fish bowl was splashing,” said Kelly Bolte, a waitress in Seymour, about 60 miles south of Indianapolis. “It felt like the dog was running through the house.”
Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Todd Ringle from the Evansville post said he was shaken out of his bed. Another Evansville resident said he felt a rolling motion.
At Vincennes University, about 30 miles east of the epicenter, all five dormitories were evacuated as a precaution, sending nearly 1,500 students to an intramural field for an hour, said university spokesman Duane Chattin. The earthquake triggered the fire alarm in one residence hall, Chattin said. There was no damage or injuries reported on the campus, Chattin said.
The earthquake was felt across Indiana, shaking tall buildings and rattling windows in downtown Indianapolis.
It was felt as far as Kendallville, in the northeast corner of the state, about 250 miles from the epicenter.
“I was sitting at my computer,” Kendallville resident Andrea Brand said. “The computer starting shaking and the desk started shaking. The whole house was shaking.”
Scott Wilkerson, associate professor of geosciences at DePauw University in Greencastle, about 40 miles south Indianapolis, said he felt two episodes of shaking. He said that may represent two different seismic waves.
He said there likely will be some small aftershocks most of which people will not feel.
The quake is believed to have involved the Wabash fault, a northern extension of the New Madrid fault about six miles north of Mount Carmel, Ill., said United States Geological Survey geophysicist Randy Baldwin.
Phil Roberts, an earthquake consultant for Indiana, said the state experiences hundreds of earthquakes each year with magnitudes ranging from 1.2 to about 2.0 — too low to be felt.
“We can expect these things to happen and continue, and hopefully they won’t be on a larger scale,” he said.
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