We were rumbled out of our beds again last night. An aftershock woke us up, although I thought it was part of a dream I was having, so I didn’t realize what it was until it was almost over. My husband, daughter and I conferred in the hallway, then went back to sleep. My son slept through it all and was surprised to hear the news this morning.
The USGS said a 4.0 magnitude aftershock happened at 12:38 am near Mt. Carmel, IL. It was one of 15 aftershocks felt in this region last Friday morning’s 5.2 earthquake, although most of them were 3.0 or smaller, so we haven’t felt them here. The one last night was the same magnitude as the one we felt last Friday at 10:15 am.
The media said we are supposed to feel aftershocks for about 8-10 days after the initial earthquake, so maybe there’ll be more. Both of my kids missed the one last Friday, since they were changing classes when it happened. They also said their schools felt pretty sturdy, so they didn’t notice much shaking. That’s a good thing. Hopefully that means they’re safe there.
The only noticeable damage we noticed from all this seismic activity was small chips of plaster falling from our garage ceiling. They’re falling out of a crack along a seam, where lots of other pieces had already fallen out long before any earthquake shook them loose. We have earthquake insurance, so if the big one hits, we should be covered if we lose anything more than pieces of plaster.
