A shake, rattle and roll in the heartland....could it be an earthquake?
All was quiet and dark like it should be at 4:30AM. My wife and I are sound asleep in bed when all of a sudden we both are awaken by a sudden shaking. It's as if someone is standing on each side of the bed and shaking the mattress. Its shocking but then kind of funny, we both wake at the same time. I say, what's that? She mumbles, its the wind. I say, no wind causes the bed to shake this way. Then I blurt out, its an earthquake! She mumbles something indecipherable and turns over and goes back to sleep.
Unable to fall back asleep, I get up half an hour later and peek through the window curtains not knowing for sure what I'll see. The skies are just beginning to lighten and all appears normal on the street. I slip on my slippers and head downstairs to checkout the TV news to confirm what I know I had felt earlier. Sure enough, CNN says there was an earthquake at 4:37AM registering 5.2 on the Richter Scale, centered in Belmont, IL . Belmont is about 120 miles east of where we live near St Louis, MO. This is my first earthquake and hopefully my last.
I can't forget the helpless feeling I had while this was happening. Just what do you do? I know what to do for a midwest tornado or hail storm, run for cover. But an earthquake? Where do you go. Nowhere I guess. You freeze and hope and pray that all things stop shaking and you live to see tomorrow. You are so helpless its unnerving.
This place does not see many earthquakes and hopefully there will be no more in the near future. I wouldn't live in a place like California for nothing in the world. Just the thought of going through what I went through that quiet dark morning a few days ago will keep me right here in the heartland.
*smiles* from someone that lived in Los Angeles for 30 yrs, and rode out more than one of these! Your recent earthquake was from the New Madrid Fault. You might find this interesting: Copied from an article about "earth changesby Mitch Battros"
"A turn of the century earthquake, the New Madrid fault system was responsible for the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake and has the potential to produce damaging earthquakes on an average of every 300 to 500 years. On February 7, 1812, the New Madrid Earthquake measured a 7.9 magnitude; epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri. The area of New Madrid was destroyed. Near by St. Louis, Missouri, many houses were damaged severely, and their chimneys were thrown down.
The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
Large areas sank into the Earth, fissures opened, lakes permanently drained, new lakes were formed, and forests were destroyed over an area of 150,000 acres (600 km). Many houses at New Madrid were thrown down. "Houses, gardens, and fields were swallowed up" one source notes. But fatalities and damage were low, because the area was sparsely settled.
The earthquakes were felt as far away as New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, where church-bells rang. It has been recorded this earthquake was so powerful; people witnessed the mighty Mississippi River rolled back on itself, then literally changed course. Because of the change in the course of the Mississippi River, land was cut off from counties by the river and wound up on the other side of the new riverbed, on the other side of the Mississippi. The settlement of Reverie, Tennessee, in Tipton County was cut off and placed on the western bank of the Mississippi River on the Arkansas side.
Irony Too Weighted to Be Considered Coincidence
A study released just yesterday told of an exaggerated danger viewed by some seismologist related to a future major eruption in the New Madrid and Charleston, South Carolina zones in the Midwestern and Southern parts of the United States. Seismologist Seth Stein of Northwestern University found that the seismic hazard maps of the New Madrid and Charleston areas looked a lot less dire than current predictions for the regions. I think he's changed his mind as of this morning.
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A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
"A turn of the century earthquake, the New Madrid fault system was responsible for the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake and has the potential to produce damaging earthquakes on an average of every 300 to 500 years. On February 7, 1812, the New Madrid Earthquake measured a 7.9 magnitude; epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri. The area of New Madrid was destroyed. Near by St. Louis, Missouri, many houses were damaged severely, and their chimneys were thrown down.
The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
Large areas sank into the Earth, fissures opened, lakes permanently drained, new lakes were formed, and forests were destroyed over an area of 150,000 acres (600 km). Many houses at New Madrid were thrown down. "Houses, gardens, and fields were swallowed up" one source notes. But fatalities and damage were low, because the area was sparsely settled.
The earthquakes were felt as far away as New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, where church-bells rang. It has been recorded this earthquake was so powerful; people witnessed the mighty Mississippi River rolled back on itself, then literally changed course. Because of the change in the course of the Mississippi River, land was cut off from counties by the river and wound up on the other side of the new riverbed, on the other side of the Mississippi. The settlement of Reverie, Tennessee, in Tipton County was cut off and placed on the western bank of the Mississippi River on the Arkansas side.
Irony Too Weighted to Be Considered Coincidence
A study released just yesterday told of an exaggerated danger viewed by some seismologist related to a future major eruption in the New Madrid and Charleston, South Carolina zones in the Midwestern and Southern parts of the United States. Seismologist Seth Stein of Northwestern University found that the seismic hazard maps of the New Madrid and Charleston areas looked a lot less dire than current predictions for the regions. I think he's changed his mind as of this morning.