No injuries have been reported, but local news reports say residents of Oklahoma City, the state's capital, have reported damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the likelihood of casualties or vast damage is low.
The epicenter of the quake was about 14 kilometers northwest of Pawnee, Oklahoma. But tremors were reportedly felt as far as St. Louis, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa - each more than 700 kilometers away.
Saturday's quake ties one in 2011 for the strongest earthquake to hit Oklahoma. A recent increase in earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher in the state has been linked to the oil extraction process known as fracking, making parts of Oklahoma as prone to earthquakes as northern California, according to the Associated Press.
[voanews.com]
3/9/16
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- Magnitude mb 5.6
Date time 2016-09-03 12:02:44.1 UTC
Location 36.47 N ; 96.94 W
Depth 2 km
Distances:
409 km N of Dallas, United States / pop: 1,198,000 / local time: 07:02:44.1 2016-09-03
123 km NE of Oklahoma City, United States / pop: 580,000 / local time: 07:02:44.1 2016-09-03
19 km NW of Pawnee, United States / pop: 2,200 / local time: 07:02:44.1 2016-09-03
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Related:
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A record-tying earthquake in the edge of Oklahoma's key energy-producing areas rattled the Midwest from Nebraska to North Texas on Saturday and likely will focus fresh new attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground...
ReplyDeleteThe United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region.
People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Fayetteville and Little Rock, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Norman, Oklahoma, all reported feeling the earthquake. Dallas TV station WFAA tweeted that the quake shook their studios, too.
Pawnee County Emergency Management Director Mark Randell said no buildings collapsed in the town of 2,200 about nine miles southeast of the epicenter, and there were no injuries, either. "We've got buildings cracked," Randell said. "Most of it's brick and mortar, old buildings from the early 1900s."
Pawnee furniture store owner Lee Wills told The Associated Press that he first thought it was a thunderstorm.
"Then it just ... Everything went crazy after that. It just started shaking," said Wills, who lives about 2 1/2 miles outside of town. "It rocked my house like a rubber band. Threw stuff off cabinets and out of cabinets, broke glasses."
The office of Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin tweeted that state highway crews were checking for bridge damage and the state Department of Emergency Management would assess damage and determine how to address it. Geologists say damage is not likely in earthquakes below magnitude 4.0.......http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/strong-oklahoma-earthquake-felt-from-nebraska-to-texas-1.3057233
3/9/16