News - A Chicago Earthquake!

At about 4 AM this morning, half awake, I noticed the earth was shaking. Why was I awake? One of our kids had decided to get up at 3 AM and they were happily burning the midnight oil in our bed. So at about 4.25 I hear the windows rattling -- and I knew what it was! Earthquake! Being from California, I know intimately what earthquakes feel like. This one lasted about 20 seconds, a gentle rolling sensation. Next day I read that it was a 5.2, second strongest ever recorded in the state of Illinois. It was followed up by a 4.5 aftershock, which is nothing when it comes to shaking. A 5.2 is sorta an earthquake. Now, if we get a 6.0 or above, now you're talking. Remember, each time you go up in the Richter Scale, you up the shaking by a magnitude of 10. But the intensity of an earthquake also has to do with how deep the event is in the depths of the earth, and how close it is to you on the map. Put it to you another way... when the earth starts shaking, and you go outside and you see parked cars see-sawing end to end, and power lines are going up and down like jump-ropes, and you feel like leaning against the doorjamb -- now that is an earthquake. I hope that doesn't happen here, because our house would fall down. Do I have earthquake insurance in Illinois? I'll have to look that up.