forty-two Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 4.3. I just can't think of Illinois as earthquake country :001_huh:. I know that the strongest earthquake on record in the continental U.S. was at New Madrid (in 1824, iirc), but still...:glare: It's just not right. Anyway, I woke to a reasonably loud, widespread rumbling noise, but I had no idea what it was. And "earthquake" certainly didn't occur to me *at all*. It wasn't until my dh texted me to say they had an earthquake that I made the connection. Seriously, an earthquake in IL <shakes head>. I grew up in hurricane country, and those were the only natural disasters we had to worry about. Earthquakes scared me - I always said I'd never want to live in CA - but now I've experienced one anyway - in IL, of all places :confused:. Still can't get over that :glare: :tongue_smilie:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only me Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Yes, isn't it strange. I posted this morning about this too. We don't expect earthquakes in northern Illinois. I know it was pretty small and people from California would probably laugh but it really caught us off guard. My daughter who has insomnia still hadn't fallen asleep yet. She said she heard the dog whining and acting strange and then a few minutes later the house started to shake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 (edited) There have been tremors in NJ lately too--3.0 last week and 1.5-ish this week. They weren't close enough for us to feel them, but there are several small but significant fault lines that run under New York and New Jersey. Every few years local reporters pull out the ominous warnings about "the big one" that seismologists have predicted we'll eventually see. Kinda freaks me out too :( Edited February 10, 2010 by melissel Oops, wrong info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnydaye Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hearing about the earthquakes in places you would never expect them reminds me of the scripture in the Bible about earthquakes in diverse places. Just another confirmation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samba2nite Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hummm...quite interesting...as a CA girl we are used to earthquakes out here. I grew up in San Francisco expecting them. But Illinois? Yowza! samba in sac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 Hearing about the earthquakes in places you would never expect them reminds me of the scripture in the Bible about earthquakes in diverse places. Just another confirmation. :iagree: If we have one down here in Florida, I think I'd wet my pants. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 I grew up in CA and earthquakes freak me out. Now I'm in FL where I'm "safe". Except that earthquake in Haiti got me thinking that earthquakes can probably happen just about anywhere.... <shiver> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty-two Posted February 10, 2010 Author Share Posted February 10, 2010 That's funny because I refuse to live in Hurricane country! I mean, you know you are going to have major weather related problems. Earthquakes are pretty darn rare, even in "earthquake country". I will probably experience 2-4 total in my lifetime of living on the West coast and only one or two of those might have anything that could be considered "major damage" (an old house gets condemned, a road gets a sink hole, power is out for a few days). Most earthquakes are like what you experienced today - a whole lot of nothing and then it's over before you can have a conversation about it. You have to deal with Hurricanes and major storms every year - ick! I'm sure it's just one of those "the devil you know..." things but I'll take my couple of earthquakes and be glad for them. Now you can have those great "where were you during the earthquake?" conversations. :) Yeah, I think it is mostly a "devil you know" thing. But there's also the whole no warning thing (tornadoes scare me, too - worst part of staying for hurricanes for me was worrying about the tornadoes that spun off the edges of the storm). At least with hurricanes, you more or less see them coming in time to get yourself out. (Another, completely unrelated, difference b/w IL and everywhere else I've lived is having four actual seasons; this is my first true winter - ya know, with snow and everything :lol:.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 No, major earthquakes don't happen every where. Haiti is in a geological active area- think of Martinique with it's deadly volcano and even further south with Trinidad and Tobago and their oil wells. Geologists have identified most of the major earthquake faults and Haiti was known as a danger area even if most of us didn't know. Their last big one was 200 years ago and that is in historical time. Same with New Madrid fault and Charleston,SC. Both of those happened several hundred years ago but within historical period. Other areas, like Yellowstone Park, had their major problems thousands of years ago but they were so major, we know about them. Earthquakes in the high 3 and low 4 range happen in many areas that aren't considered earthquake areas and don't usually amount to anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyK Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 I grew up in the Chicago area and remember one when I was little -- so it would have been 1970 or so. I remember it felt like being on a boat in waves. Thanks for the memory! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 It was so bizarre. I remember hearing the windows rattling and thinking that an unexpected storm had come through with gusting winds. I heard a couple bedroom doors open. Then dh heard a bang downstairs and went to investigate but couldn't find anything amiss. It wasn't until I got to the Y in the morning and our friendly check in guy asked about the earthquake that I put two and two together. The kids were awakened by it and they knew what it was, but we, the parents, were clueless:). We do get quakes in IL, but they are usually so minor that most people don't even notice them. This is the first quake I have felt outside of CA. I was out there for the one on New Years' Day 1979. We were watching the Rose Bowl game on TV with some relatives and the ground shook and everyone went outside, but me. They had to tell me what happened. Yeah, I under-react sometimes:). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 No, major earthquakes don't happen every where. Haiti is in a geological active area- think of Martinique with it's deadly volcano and even further south with Trinidad and Tobago and their oil wells. Geologists have identified most of the major earthquake faults and Haiti was known as a danger area even if most of us didn't know. Their last big one was 200 years ago and that is in historical time. Same with New Madrid fault and Charleston,SC. Both of those happened several hundred years ago but within historical period. Other areas, like Yellowstone Park, had their major problems thousands of years ago but they were so major, we know about them. Earthquakes in the high 3 and low 4 range happen in many areas that aren't considered earthquake areas and don't usually amount to anything. :iagree:The earth's tectonic plates and fault lines are always moving... just because it happened in the midwest is not that unusual from a "geologic" time POV. And as a former Cali girl, the size of the quake is not that noticable. I do find it fascinating how our planet works from a science POV, tho', Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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