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By Staff Reports
June 18, 2002
A large earthquake rumbled through the Tri-State on Tuesday, but didn't cause any significant damage.
The quake, with a magnitude of 5.0, was centered 6 miles west-southwest of Darmstadt, Ind., and started at 12:37 p.m., lasting for about 15 seconds.
That would place the epicenter at Koring and Upper Mount Vernon roads in Vanderburgh County.
Officials at Old National Bank in Evansville evacuated its employees from its Downtown office tower, but employees began re-entering the building around 1:30 p.m.
Jodie Cantrell, an employee of NatCity Investments, said she "felt a tremor, heard a loud bang and it almost felt like a decompression. I ran to the doorway and it was still shaking."
Cantrell said there were crooked pictures and displaced televisions throughout the Old National Bank building.
The quake was felt in Indiana as far north as South Bend, about 250 miles away. It also was felt in Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Though initial reports raised the possibility of a second earthquake, that was later dismissed.
"That is definitely not the case," said Greg Steiner, technical director at the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at University of Memphis in Tennessee. "Sometimes, when we have a quake this large, that kind of (mistake) is made. But there was just one."
Not that one wasn't enough for local residents.
"It was a pretty good rumble," said Don Myrick, who lives near Highland Elementary School on Evansville's North Side. "I thought it was a big truck at first, and then there was a boom.
"We had several things fall to the floor."
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If you have a gas leak and you are a Vectren customer, you are asked to call (800) 227-1376.
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Vectren said there were no immediate reports of gas leaks or power outages from customers, according to spokesman Mike Roeder. He said they were checking gas lines to ensure there were no leaks.
Faye Hargrave, a secretary on the third floor of the Warrick County Courthouse, said there was damage in that building, just some startled employees.
"The windows all shook, and everyone came out of their offices to see what was going on," said Hargrave. The building was not evacuated.
Dispatchers throughout Southeastern Illinois reported feeling the tremor there, including near McLeansboro.
The quake briefly interrupted telephone service at Carmi, Ill., and Grayville, Ill.
Police dispatchers in Warrick, Posey and Gibson counties reported no major damage, just reports of items falling from walls of homes.
The National Weather Service said they have had callers from three of their four coverage states - Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky all reported feeling the rumbles.
"There was a lot of swaying and merchandise moving, but no real damage to the building. Just a few scared folks," said John Tarrants, assistant manager at Wal-Mart on the West Side of Evansville. "We lost a few things but considering how hard it hit we were lucky."
The Kentucky State Police at Madisonville said they felt the quake there, but had no indication for how much farther south or east it could be felt there.
The earthquake hit while many people were on their lunch hours. At Los Bravos Mexican restaurant on the East Side, the clatter of dishes stopped and people kept their forks still during the tremor.
After the movement, people gasped and grabbed their cellular phones, trying to make calls to co-workers, relatives and friends. Many of them could not get through.
Joy Logan was at the restaurant with her two sons, Collin, 8, and 11-year-old Logan Westerfield. She grabbed her cell phone and called her parents in Owensboro, Ky., where they also felt the quake.
Her sons, she said, first feared something worse than an earthquake.
"We hoped it wasn't a terrorist attack," Logan said.
The mother said that's something that would not have crossed their minds before Sept. 11. That terrorist event really affected them and has changed their perspective, she said.
The boys said they couldn't tell when the earthquake quit and felt dizzy for a few moments after the tremor.
The last noticeable earthquake happened on Dec. 7, 2000, when a magnitude 3.9 tremor was measured seven miles west of Evansville. On March 7, 2000, a magnitude 3.2 quake struck north-northwest of the city.
Bill Smith, a geophysicist at the Earthquake Information Center, said small earthquakes periodically occur in the Wabash Valley region, but typically are not strong enough to be felt.
"This is much larger than average for the region, but not unprecedented," Smith said
The strongest earthquake in the last 100 years in the Wabash Valley region happened on Nov. 9, 1968, in south-central Illinois. It had a magnitude of 5.4 and was felt in 23 states.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.