Chicago Earthquake

Trinity Digest
by Nicole Collins

In Chicago the snow falls, the wind literally blows, and the snow falls again—and apparently the earth quakes. But few Midwesterners or Trinity International University (TIU) students recognized it.

“I didn’t feel a damn thing and I was kind of mad,” said Loryssa Simas, who remained dead asleep during the earthquake that hit Southern Illinois at 4:36 a.m. Friday with a preliminary magnitude of 5.2, according to geologists. “I wanted to be able to say I felt an earthquake.”

The rumbling originated in the Ozark Dome region, an area including several fault lines that covers roughly five Southern and Midwestern states that have nothing on the seismic zones found in the West.

“I felt at home,” said Christine Naumo, a Southern California native who still remembers the 6.7 waves of concrete rippling through her Santa Clarita neighborhood when she was seven years old.

Some 120,000 square miles of earth shook from southern Memphis north to Michigan, and from Nashville west to Kansas City.

“There goes everything I learned in fifth grade geology,” said Minnesota native Wendy Moore who didn’t believe earthquakes could happen in the Midwest.

No one was killed, only slight injuries were claimed, shelves were rattled, a chimney collapsed, and beds jiggled.

“I thought my bed was vibrating,” said Laura Della Torre, who thought she was going crazy until she heard news of an actual earthquake.

By Tuesday a few students were still ignorant of the disturbance that came in the wee hours of the morning.

“Didn’t have a clue anything happened,” said Jesse Edson.

“I woke up to pee around 5, but I think it was over by then,” said Dana Larmour.

“I didn’t feel it, but my friend did and thought a train was going by,” said Jami Higgs.

A comparable earthquake hit the same spot six years ago and a bit stronger quake hit the southern Illinois area in 1968. But none of these were as severe as an early 1800s rumble that shook all the way down to Memphis.

At least twenty-two aftershocks from Friday’s quake were recorded by Monday at magnitudes as high as 4.5.

“What earthquake?” asked Levi Arnold.