Magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattles northern Illinois | Illinois

Publish date: 2024-04-14
Illinois This article is more than 2 months old

Magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattles northern Illinois

This article is more than 2 months old

Earthquake occurred in town of Standard, and was felt in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana, US Geological Survey says

A magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattled northern Illinois and parts of three other states early on Wednesday, awakening some residents and spurring reports to 911 about homes shaking, the US Geological Survey and police said.

The small earthquake was detected about 4.41am local time and was centered about sixth-tenths of a mile (1km) south-south-east of Standard, Illinois, a town that is about 100 miles (161km) south-west of downtown Chicago, the federal agency said.

The temblor occurred about 2.9 miles below the Earth’s surface. People living as far away as southern Wisconsin, south-eastern Iowa and north-west Indiana reported that they felt the quake, said Jessica Jobe, a research geologist with USGS.

She said “weak to moderate” shaking was reported across that region but the USGS had received no reports of damage.

While there is neither a history of large quakes in that area of Illinois, nor a known fault zone in that region, Jobe said “small to moderate earthquakes can occur anywhere and anytime in the Eastern US.”

Area of 3.6 magnitude earthquake in Illinois. Photograph: United States Geological Survey

Administrative Lt Doug Bernabei with the Peru police department, located several miles north of Standard, said he was up making coffee when his house shook. Suspecting it might be a quake, he turned on his police radio and heard numerous calls coming into 911 dispatch from residents.

“We received voluminous amounts of 911 calls. It was literally one call after another,” he said. “It shook my house. It wasn’t a rattle, I thought something hit the house. A lot of people were waking up.”

Bernabei said he had not heard of any reports of damage because of the quake. He said Illinois valley regional dispatch based in Peru and which covers several north-central Illinois communities received many dozens of calls from residents who felt the quake.

Randy Simpson, a dispatcher for Illinois valley regional dispatch center, said dispatchers on duty at the time received numerous calls from people who felt the ground shaking or the noise of their homes rattling. There were no reports of damage, he said.

Simpson, who lives in Mendota about 16 miles north of Standard, said he was up watching TV and did not feel the quake. But a friend who lives in the same community texted him to say he had just felt an earthquake and that his house shook.

“He said, ‘Did you feel that?’ And I was like ‘Feel what?’” Simpson said.

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