Earthquakes in Saint Louis
By renestl
@renestl (99)
United States
April 18, 2008 5:25am CST
Has anyone ever felt an earthquake before, especially in the midwest area? We just had an earthquake in IL. I live in Saint Louis over 100 miles away and was just awakened by the earthquake. It's my first and even though there was no damage it scared me silly. Since there was no damage, I thought that I just had a bad dream and shook myself woke. I then tried the news to try to confirm if there was an earthquake and the morning news was going on as usual. I was on my way back to sleep after convincing myself that it was just a dream and just happened to look at my tv again. They are now discussing an earthquake near the IL, IN borker. So just wanted to know if anyone has been through an earthquake, specifically in the MO, IL, IN, KY, OH areas.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
18 Apr 08
You might be interested to read this article in the National Geographic published just two years ago. It states that big quakes in the Midwest are not unknown in the recent past and are likely in the future. They may, in part, be due to the slow return of the Earth's crust to 'normal' after the ice retreated 10,000 years ago, just as a mattress on a bed springs back after someone has sat on it!
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0412_060412_earthquake.html
@renestl (99)
• United States
18 Apr 08
Thanks for the article. It made reference of the 1906 San Fran earthquake which they just referenced on the news. It's a little cool in a weird way that we have just had one on the same day that happened. I know we live on the New Madrid fault, which geologist say if we have a big one on one of the faults here, it could level the city. The way that felt from so far away, I don't think I every want to go through a big one. I think just because it was my first one, probably like many others around my age, I thought it was just me because it didn't last too long.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
18 Apr 08
I know that I would probably find an earthquake very scary, even if it did little or no damage. We did actually have quite a large one in the UK a month or so back. I was quite sorry to have missed it! Others in the house felt it but I was on the ground floor and moving about so perhaps I didn't feel the slight tremor.
I once went on the Earthquake Simulator at the Science Museum in London and that was profoundly unsettling. It felt as if the solid ground had suddenly become fluid and was rippling beneath one's feet.
Of course the damage that a major earthquake does is devastating and distressing to those affected. Perhaps everyone would be wise to have 'disaster training'. It is often said that panic in the face of disaster is more dangerous than the disaster itself.
@reene0225 (351)
• United States
18 Apr 08
I live in Hillsboro which is 45 minutes from Saint Louis. I was also asleep this morning thinking the same thing as you. I felt something and thought that I was dreaming. Then I felt it again. It was really weird. I've never felt an earthquake before. They said it was a 5.2 on the richter scale. I didn't really think anything of it until I was at WalMart and overheard a lady talking to her friend about it. So when I got home I looked on the internet and sure enough we had one.
