Shake, Rattle, and Roll in Cleveland!

Last night, I survived an earthquake! Although rare in this region, we had a 3.6 magnitude earthquake last night that left a lot of folks "shook up." I live in Ohio in southeast Cuyahoga County, but last night, my husband and I were visiting my brother, sister-in-law and nephews last night in northeast Summit County. At about 7:20pm I was sitting on the floor holding my 2-month-old nephew while my husband was playing with my other nephew (2 1/2 years old) in his room when the quake hit.

At first, it felt like really strong thunder, the kind that rattles the windows, but it was deeper than thunder, and, sitting on the floor, I could feel the floor shaking. The baby was fussy and screaming through the entire incident (my brother and sister-in-law went out for a while) and I yelled to my husband, "WHAT was THAT????" As usual, he said, "I don't know..." rather calmly, but I could tell he was also a little "rattled" and my nephew also had a look of concern on his face (we tried to minimize our concern so he wouldn't be worried).

We looked around the house, then looked around outside. I immediately thought earthquake, but because they are so rare in these parts, I tried to think of other explanations. Was it just thunder? Maybe a tree fell (but it didn't look like it). I looked around outside for signs of an explosion or a structure that fell, but didn't see anything, and the sky sure didn't look like a "thunder" kind of sky.

When my brother called around 7:30pm to check in, I told him, "I think we had an earthquake!" Just then, the breaking news on the TV confirmed that yes indeed, it was an earthquake. My brother said, "Is the garage still standing? Make sure you guys get in the doorways!" He was, of course, joking (I think).

Amazingly, my baby nephew calmed down shortly after the earthquake and fell asleep and was much less fussy the rest of the night, which made me wonder if, like some animals, babies have that 6th sense when there's some change in the earth or something.

I talked to my 2-year-old nephew about it some, although he didn't really seem that worried about it and was intensely watching a Crocodile Hunter show about snakes. I said, "Remember when everything was shaking?" and he said, "Yes" and I said, "It was an earthquake! Pretty cool, huh?" and he was like, "Yeah..." but wasn't that excited or anything.

This map shows the epicenter. The green hexagon is where I live. The pink flower is where we were when the Great Quake of '07 hit.

Here's what the news: reported:

Quake shakes, shocks 3 counties
'Minor' 3.6-magnitude temblor felt in Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The earth shook Monday night in Northeast Ohio. Residents in Cuyahoga, Summit and Portage counties felt a 3.6-magnitude earthquake about 7:20 p.m. that was centered five miles north of Ravenna, just south of the Ohio Turnpike in Portage County. Quakes with magnitudes measuring between 3.0 and 3.9 are considered "minor," according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Try telling that to the hundreds of Northeast Ohioans who don't get to see their walls shimmy all that often.

There were reports of rumbling and shaking in Stow, Bath Township, Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and Solon. People said their dishes rattled, chairs swayed, and dogs jumped to their feet. Some even said they thought there had been an explosion nearby. Police dispatchers in Ravenna, Macedonia, Twinsburg and Northfield were overwhelmed with calls from both panicky and curious residents. The Twinsburg Police Department fielded more than 500 calls within a half-hour, according to harried dispatcher Jennifer Wagner. "We had 10 lines ringing nonstop," Wagner said. Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta was enjoying a quiet night with a book when he heard a rumbling noise coming toward his house. "It was like a roll of thunder," Kuchta said. "Then it felt like somebody ran into our house with a car."

Mike Hansen, network coordinator for the Ohio Earthquake Information Center, says this is a typical account of a 3.6-magnitude earthquake. "It gives people a pretty good jolt," Hansen said, "but it doesn't last more than a few seconds." Earthquakes in the eastern United States tend to travel farther from the epicenter, Hansen said. This is because the waves travel through flat-lying brittle rock that carries the energy about 10 times as far as earthquakes on the West Coast.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that people as far north as Cleveland and as far south as Canton felt the trembling. No one felt more than light shaking, and no damage was reported.
The most recent earthquake of this size to hit Northeast Ohio was a 3.8-magnitude temblor that struck June 21 and was centered about 10 miles northeast of Painesville.
Like this one, it didn't cause any major damage.

The story is also on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1G_jW7ZhA

In the news story on YouTube, they mention the January 31, 1986 earthquake, which I very vividly remember since I was in 7th grade at the middle school in geometry class and I thought the girl in front of me was shaking her leg and making my desk shake. Everybody got quiet when we felt it, but me, being oblivious as always, yelled out, “Kim, stop shaking my desk!!” Then I realized that the windows were rattling, too, and everyone was feeling it. It was a weird year, since I vividly remember being in the same class when we learned of the Challenger explosion on January 28 of the same year.

• Ohio Department of Natural Resources - Division of Geological Survey
  January 1986 - Northeastern Ohio Earthquake
  
• US Geological Survey: Historic Earthquakes
  Northeast Ohio 1/31/1986, Magnitude 5.0, Intensity VI

The 1986 quake was the first earthquake in Ohio where injuries were reported, and they believe it was the third largest earthquake in Ohio. The epicenter was in Lake County, the county just east of Cuyahoga County where I live (and lived at the time). The official Richter scale magnitude was 4.96.

Damage in the area close to the epicenter was minor. Merchandise fell from store shelves and buildings in the area had cracked plaster and cracked or broken windows. Interestingly, there were reports of changes in water wells - different color or taste, wells going dry, or wells increasing their flow.

I do also remember there being some concern about the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in northern Lake County, which was only 11 miles north of the epicenter. The plant was not in operation at the time the earthquake hit, but did sustain some minor cracks and water pipe leaks. In a time of concern over nuclear power, the cold war, and just a few months later, the Chernobyl disaster, I am now seeing why I had so many nightmares about nuclear annihilation growing up!