Quake Hits 11 States, Does Little Damage

A strong earthquake Wednesday rattled parts of 11 states from Missouri to West Virginia, shaking buildings in downtown Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit and causing minor damage.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The National Weather Service said the quake occurred at 4:49 PST and registered 5 on the Richter scale. It was centered near Lawrenceville, Ill., about 55 miles north of Evansville, Ind.

The quake was felt in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Dave McLean, a reporter for WTTL in Madisonville, Ky., said: “We’ve gotten calls from listeners about broken glasses, refrigerators shaking, pictures falling off walls.

Clock Chimes

“One lady called and said she was scared so bad because her grandfather clock was chiming and it wasn’t time for it.”

Dennis Dixon, a National Weather Service forecaster in Ann Arbor, Mich., about 40 miles west of Detroit, said he was “sitting here at the (computer) screen and things started moving.”

In Illinois, the earthquake was felt as far north as Chicago and as far south as the St. Louis border. It rumbled through several Illinois cities, shaking skyscrapers in Chicago and the state Capitol in Springfield.

“I was sitting in my office watching the file cabinets move,” said Cmdr. Richard Walton of the Springfield Police Department, who said no damage or injuries were reported in the state capital.

Workers in Detroit buildings and Tiger Stadium also felt the tremor, and a guest on the eighth floor of the 25-story Hotel Ponchartrain downtown felt it, night manager Ophelia Twine said.

Patients at a Parkersburg, W.Va., hospital were upset by the quake, hospital workers said.

‘Calmed Down’

“They’re a little bit shook up, but we’ve got them calmed down,” said Terry Everson, a nurse at Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital.

She said that “some beds were shaking, but nothing really dramatic happened. The people walking around couldn’t really feel anything.”

The quake also was felt in many parts of Tennessee, said Millie McGuigan, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency in Nashville.

“There was a strong jolt and a little aftershock about five seconds later,” said Dale McCarver, a reporter for Clarksville, Tenn., radio station WJZM.

In Indiana, the quake shook buildings from Evansville to Gary.

“The whole building’s been shaking for the last minute,” Christopher Brown of Evansville said, calling from his apartment in a 14-story building.

Kent Fulmer of WHFB in Benton Harbor, Mich., said he received about 100 calls within half an hour of the tremor. R. J. Lupo of WOOD in Grand Rapids said he received a flurry of 30 to 50 calls.

No Apparent Damage

“One guy saw his pool ripple and another guy said his ceiling fan shook” but there was no apparent damage, Lupo said.

In Michigan, the last significant earthquake was on Jan. 31, 1986. That quake measured 5 on the Richter scale and was centered 9.3 miles below the surface of Lake Erie and about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland.