1968 Illinois earthquake

The U.S. Midwestern state of Illinois was struck by its largest recorded earthquake (a New Madrid event) in 1968. Striking at 11:02 a.m. on November 9, it measured 5.3 on the Richter scale. Although no fatalities occurred, the event caused considerable structural damage to buildings, including the toppling of chimneys and shaking in Chicago, the region's largest city. The earthquake was one of the most widely felt in U.S. history, largely affecting 23 states over an area of 580,000 sq mi (1,500,000 km2). In studying its cause, scientists discovered the Cottage Grove Fault in the Southern Illinois Basin. Within the region, millions felt the rupture. Reactions to the earthquake varied; some people near the epicenter did not react to the shaking, while others panicked. A future earthquake in the region is extremely likely; in 2005, seismologists and geologists estimated a 90% chance of a magnitude 6–7 tremor before 2055, likely originating in the Wabash Valley seismic zone on the… Read by PopularOutcast. Recorded October 17, 2009; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=318988311 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Illinois_earthquake Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1968_Illinois_earthquake.ogg License: GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. Chapter images come from the recorded article via Wikimedia Commons; each chapter links its file page for credits. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.