Earthquake Shakes Chicagoland
The tremor centered near west suburban Geneva, about five miles east of Sycamore, struck at 3:59 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"It shook the house, rattled the windows and doors," viewer John Bruno wrote in an email. "It woke us out of a sleep and got the dog barking! It shook our whole house!"
The USGS fielded thousands of phone calls with similar stories, geophysicist Amy Vaughan said. Reports came in from Villa Park, Minooka, the Northwest Side and even Crown Point, Indiana and Madison, Wisconsin.
The reports were mostly people who said, "we woke up and thought we were going crazy," Vaughan said.
"I initially thought that perhaps we were having an earthquake," Paul Lockwood, of Woodstock said."But then dismissed the idea, especially since the people who use [snow blowers] on our sidewalk were doing their work a few minutes later."
Others knew exactly what they felt.
"My ENTIRE house shook and things fell off a desk and adresser," wrote Casarah Stark, of St. Charles. "I woke up to that old familiar feeling I could hear the very loud rumbling and feel the shaking for a few seconds."
Local police departments have not reported any injuries or serious damage, and the quake appears to be an isolated event.
It's not the first time Illinois, which sits on the largest fault line in the country, has experienced a quake.
In April 2008, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit West Salem, located 270 miles south of Chicago, becoming the state's worst since 1968. But there could be more coming.
Feb. 10, 2010
www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Breaking-News-Earthquake-Shakes-Chicagoland-84000302.html