Earthquake in Midwest

Anybody feel the earth move at 12:30 EDT? 4.2
quake near Kalamazoo, MI. Felt in a number of
states. I knew immediately what it was, but most
here have never been in one.

It's funny all the different things people thought it was.
A woman thought a car hit her house, a guy got out of
his car because he thought he'd been hit, another
thought her husband had fallen down the stairs,
many thought it was semi going by.

The first one for me was in 77 in SoCalif. It was a big
one and stuff was falling off the shelves and we were
losing our balance. My GF at the time started screaming
like she was in a horror movie, quite disconcerting and
non productive.

I didn't feel it. I am in southeast Michigan. At the time, I'm pretty sure I was driving down a rather rugged dirt road.

Quote: Dalex64

...At the time, I'm pretty sure I was driving down a rather rugged dirt road.

Well then stay off of the freeways!!!!

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Well then stay off of the freeways!!!!

Hah! I love northern humor =D

Didn't feel it, but I'm a bit far away. Seems I usually miss them as I'm in the car, and you ain't feeling no 3.0 or 4.0 driving down the road.

I was getting my ass chewed out back around '99 or so, one of those where getting kicked out of the house was pretty much the only conclusion. Next thing you know the floor started shaking and the walls started rattling; half hour later we were all laughing and chatting about it. That's pretty much my only earthquake story =p

Didn't feel anything in Suburban Chicago. I have been through 2 earthquakes in my lifetime and slept through them both

Quote: EvenBob

Anybody feel the earth move at 12:30 EDT? 4.2 quake near Kalamazoo, MI.

The first one for me was in 77 in SoCalif.

The Midwest earthquakes are potentially more frightening than the California ones. This earthquake was within 450 miles of the series of New Madrid earthquake (approaching 200th anniversary).
There are estimates that the New Madrid earthquakes were felt strongly over roughly 50,000 sq mi, and moderately across 1 million square miles. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, by comparison, was felt moderately over roughly 6,200 sq mi. While no scientific measurement systems existed at the time, it was though to be over magnitude 7.

At the time all 7 of these states were territories. The date they became states and population in 1810 are below.
1817 Mississippi 31,306
1816 Indiana 24,520
1821 Missouri 19,783
1818 Illinois 12,282
1819 Alabama 9,046
1837 Michigan 4,762
1836 Arkansas 1,062

Kentucky and Tennessee had 2/3 million people but they were mostly in the Eastern portion of the states.

In a report filed in November 2008, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that a serious earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone could result in "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States," further predicting "widespread and catastrophic" damage across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and particularly Tennessee, where a 7.7 magnitude quake or greater would cause damage to tens of thousands of structures affecting water distribution, transportation systems, and other vital infrastructure.