16 States Jolted by Quake: Kansas to South Carolina

A strong earthquake rumbled across 16 states from Kansas to South Carolina and parts of Canada Wednesday evening, shaking skyscrapers and a major league baseball stadium.

The tremor, centered near Lawrenceville, Ill., 55 miles north of Evansville, Ind., was the largest in that part of Illinois in nearly 20 years. The quake caved in part of a roof, broke windows and cut telephone service in three counties. Supermarkets reported damage from goods falling off shelves.

Only one minor quake-related injury was reported.

The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said the quake occurred at 6:49 p.m. CDT and registered 5.0 on the Richter scale. A quake of that magnitude could cause considerable damage.

Reports of the quake came in from Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina, and also from several cities in Ontario, Canada.

John Larson, a dispatcher with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department in Lawrenceville, said there were several reports of broken windows and other minor damage. He said a young girl was injured when an upper bunk bed hit her on the head.

“I think this will serve as a reminder that we do live in an area that can have earthquakes,” said Gregg Durham, a spokesman for the Illinois Emergency Services and Disaster Agency. “A lot of people had their wits scared out of them.”

‘Whole Building Moved’

Kathleen Jenkins, 29, syndication manager for WFMT-FM on the eighth floor of Three Illinois Center in downtown Chicago, said: “I definitely felt the whole building move. People are running around thinking they flipped out.”

Don Finley, public affairs officer for the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, said telephone outages were reported in Clark, Edgar and Coles counties in Illinois. He said it was the strongest earthquake in that area since a magnitude 5.3 tremor near Norris City, Ill., on Nov. 9, 1968.

Geophysicist Marvin Carlson in Golden said the center had not determined yet which fault might be involved.

The tremor shook Tiger Stadium in downtown Detroit, one of the oldest parks in the major leagues.

Columnist ‘Got Dizzy’

“I experienced what my readers have experienced for years,” Detroit News columnist Joe Falls said in the press box 94 feet above the stadium. “I got dizzy reading my own words.”

A 12-story apartment building near the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., was evacuated briefly after residents felt the building swaying, said Joann Hatchell, manager of Claire Tower.

Police Department dispatcher David Hoffee in Olney, Ill., said the department there had reports of broken windows and collapsed chimneys. He said the ceiling fell in at an Olney funeral home but no one was hurt.

At the Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., the quake triggered seismic alarms, but no damage was immediately detected, a utility company spokesman said.

‘Analyzing the Data’

“There doesn’t appear to be anything threatening. They are analyzing the data at this point,” said Sam Macalus, a spokesman for Northern States Power Co., which operates the plant.

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

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