Earthquake hits Evansville

A minor earthquake shook the Evansville area Thursday morning. Hitting shortly after 9 a.m., it registered a 3.85 on the Richter Scale and occurred at a depth of three miles.\nA quake of magnitude 4 could have caused moderate but extensive damage.\nWhile the quake forced elementary and high schools to evacuate, no injuries were reported. Police said there were no accounts of major fires or significant structural damage to buildings.\nInitially, about 50 residents in Evansville and nearby Posey County reported broken gas lines, said Southern Indiana Gas & Electric spokeswoman Mary Beth Reese.\nBut upon investigation, gas company workers, police and firefighters found no gas leaks.\n"That turned out to be unfounded panic," said Adam Groupe, deputy director of the Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency. "The people smelling gas were having an emotional reaction to the shock."\nReese said the gas company paid particular attention to the downtown business district, where several concerned residents called in. \nHaving dispatched only on-duty officers and emergency units, Groupe said the overall damage was minimal.\n"There was no actual damage worth speaking of," he said. "A few bookcases and trophy cases were knocked over. All the windows were rattled, but that was it."\nIt was the largest earthquake to hit Vanderburgh County, the most populous region in southwest Indiana, in recent memory. An earthquake of 2.9 magnitude occurred in 1985, and one earlier this year measured 2.5 on the Richter scale.\n"Given the size, it could have been very serious," said Gary Parvis, a professor of geological sciences. "It's one of the larger ones we've had for a while in a city the size of Evansville."\nAfter studying the seismic data, Parvis concluded the quake originated at the Posey-Vanderburgh County line, near the Ohio River.\nThe earthquake, Parvis said, was associated with a series of faults in the Lower Wabash Valley that stretch from Evansville north to Vincennes. He stressed that quakes are common in the area, which lies in New Madrid, a fault zone running through the southcentral part of country.\n"We have earthquakes of this scale in southern Indiana about once a year," he said. "It might happen on this scale once a week in California, but it's still not unheard of here."\nParvis said New Madrid is historically a hotbed of seismic activity. While most active in Missouri and Arkansas, it has brought large quakes in the vicinity.\nEarthquakes registering more than 5 on the Richter Scale have struck southcentral Illinois twice during the past four decades, causing substantial damage. \n"The risk isn't zero," Parvis said. "Most people don't know this, but over the past 20,000 years, southern Indiana has had five or six fairly significant earthquakes."\nIt's only a matter of time before a larger quake strikes, Parvis said.\n"We're lucky it wasn't bigger," he said. "Hopefully, now people will be better prepared, take precautions like securing water heaters and using more flexible and stronger pipes"