February 10, 2005

Perspective

There was an earthquake in Middle America today:

A small earthquake centered in northeastern Arkansas rattled parts of several states Thursday but caused no major damage.

Shaking was felt as far away as Memphis, Tenn., and in Mississippi casinos. Window blinds and doors shook and swayed, pictures fell from the walls and telephone service was briefly interrupted in one small town in Arkansas.

The quake hit at 8:05 a.m. about four miles east of Caraway. Over the course of the day, the U.S. Geological Survey gave varying magnitudes for the quake — from 3.9 to 4.2.

Even assuming it was a 4.2, that means it was approximately 100,000 times smaller than the earhtquake that created the tsunami in Southeast Asia last month.

Posted by Charles Austin at February 10, 2005 08:51 PM
Comments

Some of the worst earthquakes in the country have happened in that area, or so I read somewhere I forget.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at 11:37 PM

In all honesty, I am somewhat skeptical of the announced magnitudes (3.9 to 4.2) having that much widespread effect. I lived in Los Angeles for over 35 years, lived through two major quakes (Sylmar/1969, Northridge/1994) and scores (if not hundreds) of lesser quakes, and my experience was that 3.9/4.2 was only slightly perceptible. Perhaps enough to make you pause briefly in what you were doing, think to yourself, "Gee, that's an earthquake", and resume your activity. A quake that was felt over several states certainly seems like more than a 4.2.

Posted by: Bruce Lagasse at 06:15 PM