One of the largest earthquakes in Oklahoma was felt Saturday morning from Nebraska to North Texas.
The 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, The United States Geological Survey said.
People throughout the metro, including downtown, woke to a tremor.
@41ActionNews felt it pretty good in Lenexa ?
— amy (@m_amyb) September 3, 2016
@41ActionNews in in Overland Park area we felt it stronger n longer! 3.8-4.1 maybe. Lasted 10 sec at least
— Ratatat (@Ratatatme) September 3, 2016
Ummmmmm that felt like an earthquake in @KCMO
— Tom Dempsey (@KCTomDempsey) September 3, 2016
@christadubill @glezak @41ActionNews huge earthquake felt in Norman to northland KCMO
— Mom-2-3 (@Lilhenhaschiks) September 3, 2016
"When I was in the shower. I thought I felt like a little bit of rumbling. I thought maybe I lost my balance or something," said Tonya Alverez.
"I have friends in California and they talk about them, but for us no. Didn't expect it," said Rachel Cox.
The epicenter of the quake, Pawnee, Oklahoma, is 300 miles away. According to expert Harold Sprague, he says the vibrations travel through basement rock under the earth’s surface.
"As opposed to California where it transmits the vibrations very inefficiently because it's highly fractured," said Sprague.
Sprague says there are fault lines throughout the Midwest, although they don't shake things up as much as other places throughout the world. He says it’s unlikely Kansas City will ever feel a big size tremor.
"It's about every 400 years or so that they have a great earthquake of the magnitude that we had in 1811 and 1812," said Sprague.
The earthquake ties for Oklahoma's strongest earthquake on record, the first coming in November 2011. No major damage was immediately reported.
An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. State regulators have asked producers to reduce wastewater disposal volumes in earthquake-prone regions of the state.
Some parts of Oklahoma now match northern California for the nation's most shake prone, and one Oklahoma region has a 1 in 8 chance of a damaging quake in 2016, with other parts closer to 1 in 20.
Felt #earthquake (#sismo) M5.8 strikes 123 km NE of Oklahoma City (#Oklahoma) 8 min ago. https://t.co/DyTQ9cF8d1 pic.twitter.com/LQWHdalzfb
— EMSC (@LastQuake) September 3, 2016
An estimated 10 million people felt the earthquake across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Map of the testimonies received so far following the #earthquake M5.6 in Oklahoma 40 min ago pic.twitter.com/2WZyzrkn0q
— EMSC (@LastQuake) September 3, 2016
Earlier this week, the same spot, which is about 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, saw a magnitude 3.2 temblor.
If you felt the earthquake you should go online and fill out a report using the United States Geological survey. The information you provide can help geologist better study earthquakes.
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