Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
Feb 11, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The residents of northern part of Illinois woke up yesterday with a different kind of experience. They could feel the tremors beneath their feet, as the place was rocked by a mild Earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey later said that an Earthquake with the magnitude of 4.3 hit the region on Wednesday morning. The epicenter of the quake was at 45 miles away from Chicago, the seismologists’ reports stated. Later, some seismologists said that the quake actually had a magnitude of 3.8 on the Richter scale.

Though the quake hit Illinois in the morning hours, it did not go unnoticed by the residents. The USGA affirmed that close to 10,000 reports reached its office and the bloggers also wrote about the quake in their posts. The quake lasted for about a minute according to some people who woke up after feeling the tremors. The pet animals in some household could feel the quake earlier and dogs started barking, according to some eyewitnesses.

The scientists think that earthquakes are not common in the Midwest region and it was a rare quake. In 2008, a quake with an intensity of 5.2 had hit Illinois. The recent quake did not result in any serious damage. However, the effect could be felt in places like Tennessee and Wisconsin. Luckily, no report of casualty or injury has surfaced after the quake. While quakes do not hit Illinois or Chicago frequently, the scientists say that a fault line named New Madrid fault runs through the place. It may bring about further quakes in the future, the scientists feel.