An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit Illinois today morning at 04:36:59 AM (Central) . There have been reports of the quake being felt as far as the Grand Rapids area, about 320 miles away. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake occurred in the Illinois basin-Ozark dome region that covers parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas and stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis.

The usgs website also reported an aftershock of magnitude 4.5. This quake occurred at 10:14:16 AM (local time) today. According to the U.S. Geological Survey it had a magnitude of 4.5. It was located about 5 miles from the first quake this morning in West Salem, Ill.

This aftershock was felt by far more people compared to the original quake as most people in the region have woken up by now.

Following are the Responses by readers who experienced the quake. Do let us know what you experienced in the comments space below the post.

   1. Ann Says:
April 18th, 2008 at 7:15 pm e

The quake was felt really strongly here in Springfield Illinois. The shaking started out really strong , shaking our bed in the motel, and lasted about a minute, tapering off to little trembles.

   2. Chrissy Says:
April 18th, 2008 at 8:38 pm e

I’m a Freshman at Greenville College in Greenville Illinois, and me and my room mates felt the quakes. We all woke up to our bunks beds (3 stacked high) shaking from side to side. One of my room-mates thought that I was playing a trick on her, since I recently had told her that I would randomly wake up in the middle of the night, shake her bed and yell earthquake. We all thought it was Hogue Hall falling down (the oldest building on campus), to later find out that it was a minor earthquake. I looked at the pictures of the Richter scale, they are quite amazing.

   3. Lisa Says:
April 18th, 2008 at 9:27 pm e

I woke up about 5 minutes before it happened. My cat was looking terrified, and I went to comfort her when the shaking started. The entire house swayed East to West, the windows rattled, and kick-knacks clanged loudly. I’d estimate it lasted about 30-40 seconds here. It definitely “shook” me up quite a bit!

   4. Sue McCabe Says:
April 18th, 2008 at 9:31 pm e

The quake woke me up with a shaking of the house. It frightened me and then our parrot in the kitchen started flipping around in his cage, making lots of noise. I got my husband up and asked him to check the house because I thought that something or someone was bothering the bird. By that time, it was all over.No damage.

Ballwin,Missouri

   5. James Says:
April 18th, 2008 at 9:49 pm e

This was so awesome. I woke up to a bed giving me a message.

   6. Jonathan Says:
April 18th, 2008 at 10:32 pm e

Aftershocks felt in St. Louis, MO at 10:25 AM only slightly weaker that original tremblings.