February 21st, 2012
4.0 Quake Jolts Missouri
Residents across 13 states reported feeling a 4.0-magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Missouri early Tuesday.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports the temblor struck at 3:58 a.m. Central time with an epicenter nine miles east-southeast of Sikeston, Missouri, and 16 miles southwest of Cairo, Illinois. The quake was at a depth of 3.1 miles.
It was felt in 13 states, with the furthest location from the epicenter being New Bern, North Carolina, more than 800 miles to the east, according to reports to the USGS. Besides Missouri, Illinois and North Carolina, residents in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma reported feeling the quake.
Lonnie Thurmond, city administrator in East Prairie, Missouri, about five miles from the epicenter of the quake, said he'd gotten reports of things falling from shelves and off walls when the quake hit, but no reports of major damage.
But he said he expected his community would be getting reports of underground service line breaks over the next few weeks as that is what usually happens when quakes hit the area, which sits near the New Madrid fault.
"Some water lines will be broken," Thurmond said. "It's just inevitable." Thurmond said the quake jolted the entire community awake in the early morning darkness.
"It seems like there was not anyone it didn't wake up," he said, adding that his father, who lives near the epicenter, told him it sounded like a meteor had hit.