USGS: 10 aftershocks following 5.6 quake in Okla.
SPARKS, Okla. (AP) - November 6, 2011
It was followed by 10 aftershocks by midmorning Sunday. But
although homes and other buildings cracked and suffered minor
damage, there were no reports of severe injuries or major
devastation.
Saturday night's earthquake jolted Oklahoma State University's
stadium shortly after the No. 3 Cowboys defeated No. 17 Kansas
State.
"That shook up the place, had a lot of people nervous,"
Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon said. "Yeah, it was
pretty strong."
The magnitude 5.6 earthquake was Oklahoma's strongest on record,
said Jessica Turner, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological
Survey. Centered near Sparks, 44 miles northeast of Oklahoma City,
it could be felt throughout the state and in Arkansas, Kansas,
Missouri, northern Texas and some parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.
It followed a magnitude 4.7 quake early Saturday that was felt from
Texas to Missouri.
The aftershocks included two that were magnitude 4.0, one about
4 a.m. Sunday and one about 9 a.m., USGS said. The smallest
aftershock it recorded was magnitude 2.7. USGS seismologist Paul
Earle in Golden, Colo., said the aftershocks will likely continue
for several days and could continue for months.
Oklahoma typically has about 50 earthquakes a year, and 57
tornadoes, but a burst of quakes east of Oklahoma City has
contributed to a sharp increase. Researchers said 1,047 quakes
shook Oklahoma last year, prompting them to install seismographs in
the area. The reason for the increase isn't known, and Turner said
there was no immediate explanation for the weekend spurt in seismic
activity.
Several homeowners and businesses reported cracked walls, fallen
knickknacks and other minor damage. Brad Collins, the spokesman for
St. Gregory's University in Shawnee, said one of the four towers on
its "castle-looking" administration building had collapsed and
the other three towers were damaged. He estimated the towers were
about 25 feet tall.
"We definitely felt it," Collins said. "I was at home,
getting ready for bed and it felt like the house was going to
collapse. I tried to get back to my kids' room and it was tough to
keep my balance, I could hardly walk."
Jesse Richards, 50, of Sparks, said his wife ran outside when
the shaking started because she thought their home was going to
collapse. One of her cookie jars fell on the floor and shattered,
and pictures hanging in their living room were knocked askew. He
estimated the big earthquake lasted for 45 seconds to a minute.
"We've been here 18 years, and it's getting to be a regular
occurrence," Richards said. But, he added, "I hope I never get
used to them."
An emergency manager in Lincoln County near the epicenter said
U.S. 62, a two-lane highway that meanders through rolling landscape
between Oklahoma City and the Arkansas state line, crumpled in
places when the stronger quake struck Saturday night. Other reports
Sunday were sketchy and mentioned cracks in some buildings and a
chimney toppled.
"Earthquake damage in Oklahoma. That's an anomaly right
there," Todd McKinsey of Moore told The Oklahoman newspaper after
the magnitude 5.6 earthquake centered 50 miles away left him with
cracked drywall. Most earthquakes that have hit the region have
been much smaller.
The crowd of nearly 59,000 was still leaving Oklahoma State's
Boone Pickens Stadium when the earthquake hit, and players were in
the locker rooms beneath the stands. The shaking seemed to last the
better part of a minute, rippling upward to the stadium press box.
"Everybody was looking around, and no one had any idea,"
Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden said. "We thought the
people above us were doing something. I've never felt one, so that
was a first."
A few hours before dawn Sunday, the latest quake set nerves on
edge anew.
Jessie Plumb, a registered nurse at Prague Community Hospital,
said she and other staffers felt the 4.0 magnitude quake while on
the second floor of the building.
"It kind of gave a little bit of a shake, a little bit of rock
`n roll," she said by telephone. "I would say it was 20 or 25
seconds."
Plumb said she was anxious because of the number of earthquakes
in so short a span and the fact that they were so strong.
Saturday's late-night quake was slightly less in intensity than
the one that rattled the East Coast on Aug. 23. That 5.8 magnitude
earthquake was centered in Virginia and felt from Georgia to
Canada. No major damage was reported, although cracks appeared in
the Washington Monument, the National Cathedral suffered costly
damage to elaborately sculpted stonework, and a number of federal
buildings were evacuated.
Oklahoma has had big earthquakes before. USGS records show a 5.5
magnitude earthquake struck El Reno, just west of Oklahoma City, in
1952 and, before Oklahoma became a state in 1907, a quake of
similar magnitude 5.5 struck in northeastern Indian Territory in
1882.
Turner said an active spate of earthquakes started in the region
in February 2010 and the latest activity appears to be part of that
trend. But experts are still puzzling out why the latest quakes
have been concentrated in such a small geographic area around
Sparks, she said.