Earthquake Awakens Indiana

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake struck central Indiana Thursday morning at 7:55 a.m. EST, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake was around three miles deep and was centered about five miles south of Greentown in Howard County or around 50 miles north-northeast of the capital, Indianapolis.

As of 12:30 p.m. Thursday, about 7,100 people reported to the USGS that they had felt the earthquake, including residents as far away as New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, and Wisconsin.

“Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region,” the USGS explained.

Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains can be felt over an area as much as 10 times larger than a earthquake of a similar magnitude on the West Coast. A magnitude 4.0 earthquake in the eastern United States, which seldom leads to damage near its source, usually can be felt at places as far as 60 miles away from the epicenter.

Earthquakes in Central Indiana are fairly rare, the last one was in 2004, and before that, 1990.