There was a 4.0 magnitude earthquake at about 5 AM EST this morning in southeast Missouri just across the river from Columbus, Kentucky.
This quake was felt in 13 states and there was some minor damage near the epicenter. A magnitude 4 quake occurs along the New Madrid fault about once a year. This fault is famous because of the extreme quakes that hit in 1811 and 1812. The magnitudes ranged from 7.7 to 8.1.
The largest aftershock this afternoon has been 2.4
Here is some more info on the quake from KFVS in Cape Girardeau, MO....
The Center for Earthquake and Research Information in Memphis reports a 4.0 magnitude earthquake five miles NNW of East Prairie, Mo. at 3:58 a.m.
It was 3.1 miles deep. Felt reports on the USGS website report people in 13 states felt the quake.
The earthquake was also 12 miles ENE of Matthews and 13 miles SSE of Blodgett which is 36.850°N, 89.409°W.
Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colorado, says they located the earthquake around Sikeston and Charleston. She says they've had a large number of felt reports indicating it was widely felt regionally and even felt hundreds of kilometers away.
Vaughan says several people in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee reported being awakened by the quake that happened at 3:58 a.m. A few residents of North Carolina, Alabama, Indiana and Georgia also felt it.
Vaughan says it is considered a light earthquake with maybe some minor damage possible with things falling off walls and maybe some cracks. Viewers have reported cracks in walls and things fallings off walls. There have been no major reports of damage.
[See a slideshow of earthquake damage from southeast Missouri.]
Vaughan says earthquakes are more likely to be widely felt in parts of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, usually over 10 times greater than in areas west of the Rockies.
She says smaller aftershocks are possible.
Vaughan says it's important to know what to do when an earthquake occurs. If you're outside, stay away from buildings and if you're inside get under something.
Shaun Bell with the Mississippi County Sheriff's Department says they felt the earthquake and received several phone calls with some people saying it sounded like a vehicle was dragged through their house.
East Prairie City Administrator Lonnie Thurmond says the shaking lasted about seven seconds. Vaughan says he's heard reports of cracks in sidewalks and walls, some broken windows, and minor household damage such as rattled shelves and things falling from cabinets.
Martha Knupp in Anniston says it sounded like a loud boom, then "stuff went to shaking."
"I was asleep," said Knupp. "I heard a loud boom, woke me up. Then the house was shaking. The bed was shaking. I heard stuff falling everywhere. I jumped up to run into my husband's bedroom, check on him and that's when I seen the mantle to the lamp laying in the floor."
She said she got up to find several of her things in the floor and some of the cracks in her walls from an earlier earthquake widened and lengthened. Viewers have also reported cracks in walls in Miner and a cracked floor in Blodgett.
"I was coming down the highway and everything and the road kind of jerked a little bit and everything. By the time I pulled over and everything, it stopped everything. Thought, well I better pull over and everything. Felt a little bit of rumble and everything," said one man.
"I was laying in bed watching TV and all of a sudden my bed it just goes up and down and up and down three times. And I started to get out, it went up about the time I started to get out," said one woman.
Cape Girardeau Police Sgt. Rick Schmidt says he's heard reports from several residents. However, he says it will be business a usual at the police station Tuesday.
Dozens of viewers report their dog, cat and horses acted strange just before the quake.
Dr. Brian Heuring of Delta Veterinary Clinic in Sikeston says this is normal for animals to act this way.
"All the reports I have seen they're never showing correlation between that," said Dr. Heuring. "So I don't know. Again we've got stories both ways of pets that sensed it and then bark ahead of time and then there's like my own that just slept through it."
Dr. Heuring says one theory is animals feel the Earth move and vibrate before humans and that they detect electrical changes in the air before an earthquake.
To learn more about the big quakes from 200 years ago....click HERE
Here are the numbers from the USGS
| Magnitude | 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 36.850°N, 89.409°W |
| Depth | 5 km (3.1 miles) |
| Region | SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI |
| Distances | 16 km (9 miles) ESE of Sikeston, Missouri 27 km (16 miles) SW of Cairo, Illinois 197 km (122 miles) NNE of Memphis, Tennessee 310 km (192 miles) SE of JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri |
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