We had a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in Illinois this morning. It hit around 4:36, so I was asleep and missed the whole thing. Bummer. Quakes are really rare in these parts and it would have been fun.
5.4 isn’t much of a quake, but it’s huge for Illinois. It also attracts a lot of attention because of the way our seismic region is structured. We’re sitting on top of solid rock, which carries vibrations really well, so even a small quake like this one can be felt 450 miles away. That means that the quake was reported by people over an area of 600,000 square miles.
Our buildings aren’t built to survive quakes as well as the ones in California, but solid rock doesn’t bend and flex much, so there’s not a lot of damage. The worst I’ve heard of is a collapsed porch roof.
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