This morning I was woken up by something shaking the house (or bed, I was not sure). There seemed to be a large shake followed by a very rythmatic shaking that gradually tapered off. I said "Whooooaaahah! what was that?" and got up and stuck my head outside to see if I could hear anything.

Then I got back in bed and noticed it was 5:39 am....our alarm goes off at 5:40 am. So after it goes off my Mrs. and I were talking and I told her about the mysterious shaking and she accused me of waking my self up by some biological function (which will go unnamed in this polite company.)

A few minutes later I am in the kitchen drinking some water and the phone rings ....I am thinking "Who the heck is calling at this hour?".....and its my son who lives next door behind us. He says "did you feel the earthquake?".....and I say "yes but I was not sure what it was". It woke him too and he was sure enough about it that he got online and found a website that shows satellite imagine of earthquakes real time and there was one near Vincinnes in Illinois that was apparently a 6.0.

Thats on the New Madrid fault, I believe.

I imagine there was some damage down in that area.

When I built our house there was a very active double train track within 150' of our house. To cut down on vibration I put three layers of rubber foam between a triple plate between the concrete foundation and my wood framing on my house. By the time we built my son's house the train tracks had been removed so we didn't bother. So he could feel the quake a lot more intensly than I did, I imagine.

We feel them here from time to time. This is the third that I can remember feeling in my 59 years.

I imagine in California it would pretty much go unmentioned, but here it is a big excitement!

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Earthquake Details

Magnitude
5.2
Date-Time
Friday, April 18, 2008 at 09:36:59 UTC
Friday, April 18, 2008 at 04:36:59 AM at epicenter
Location
38.450°N, 87.890°W
Depth
11.6 km (7.2 miles)
Region
ILLINOIS
Distances
7 km (5 miles) NNE (13°) from Bellmont, IL
9 km (6 miles) E (88°) from Bone Gap, IL
11 km (7 miles) N (350°) from Keensburg, IL
41 km (26 miles) SW (232°) from Vincennes, IN
60 km (38 miles) NNW (331°) from Evansville, IN
206 km (128 miles) E (95°) from St. Louis, MO
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 1.3 km (0.8 miles); depth +/- 0.9 km (0.6 miles)
Parameters
NST= 17, Nph= 19, Dmin=10.2 km, Rmss=0.21 sec, Gp= 86°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=B
Source
Cooperative New Madrid Seismic Network
Event ID
nmhwb0418a
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Last year was a major disaster planning event and drill for a New Madrid quake. Guess what the biggest problem was--coordination & communication between levels of government and agencies.

First earthquake I ever felt (even AFTER a week in San Fransico/San Jose less than a week after Mr. St. Hellens blew) was in Decatur, IL., on a Sunday morning at 0015, back in '83.

I thought my laundry was unbalanced in the washer...went downstairs and found it in the "swishy" cycle yet.

"Earthquake? Naaaah!"

At 0700, the clock-radio popped on and WBBM-AM/Chicago was on with their news...lead story? "3.2 earthquake hit this morning, in the St. Louis area, at 12:15 A.M.. It could be felt as far away as the Chicago suburbs of..."

"No Chit!!! THAT was an earthquake? COOOL!"

Now, maybe not so cool...

Yep...it the big one...just priming itself for "the day" to come...

It was a very interesting feeling...haven't felt one since...your 5.2 must have been a VERY different feeling from my 3.2 and it appears you were a bit closer...I never did check the distance Decatur was from the St. Louis one...I might see if I can even look that incident up...I'm sure if the news-idiots were able to read about it, it had to have been recorded, officially, somewhere...

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

Yup -- it woke me up here in east central IL!

__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

woke me up too--thought I was dreaming. Only when I heard the news this a.m. did I realize it was a quake.

Interesting.

I have lived in MN for the vast majority of my life. I grew up in a small West Central MN community.

When I was in high school, during a graduation ceremony an earthquake hit. We were all inside the gymnasium. I remember the gym shaking for upwards of ten seconds. I remember my father (who was the superintendant of schools) running out of the gym. I later found out he was checking to see if a plane or such crashed into the school.

It was during the valedictorian's speech. He handled it quite well covering with a joke about not knowing his speech would be so moving.

We found out later that the quake was around a 4.5 and we were only a few miles away from the epicenter.

One of the few recorded quakes in MN.

While Lotta Shakin Goin On! Tom glad your and your family are o.k.

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

We just had some more tremors... wild!

__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

More tremors? Wow....

Eek! I know how that feels, believe me I KNOW! We Californians know. After the first one, go stand in a wide open field and stay away from any structure large or small.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Yeah... a little aftershock I guess? It lasted a few seconds.

EDIT: I just read that the aftershock registered a 4.5

__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

On the west Coast most of us don't pay too much attention to 2's and 3's. With 4's and 5's you pay initial attention then relax when they stop 3-5 seconds later. 6 and above you can't help but notice.

__________________
Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

2 reasons that people in mid-continent notice small shocks that are barely noticed on the wet coast. the first is psychological/experiential and the scodn is geological.

Serach New Madrid Quake. For example: http://quake.usgs.gov/prepare/factsheets/NewMadrid/

We had a more mild aftershock around 11 am.

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

You could feel it sliiightly even way up here in MI! I didn't wake up from it but supposedly some people could feel it.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)