The earthquake in Carbondale was Saturday, November 9, 1968 at 11:02 a.m. The epicenter was on the Cottage Grove Fault which was about 35 miles to the east of Carbondale. This earthquake was one of the most widely felt earthquakes in the history of the United States. It was felt in 23 states and over an area of 580,000 square miles.
I remember being outside our apartment in Carbondale when the earthquake took place. We had a small apartment but it did have a washer and dryer inside. The washer was off balance and would really shake during the sin cycle. I thought that it was the spin cycle of the washer when the earthquake struck. However I realized it was more than this as I was outside where you wouldn't feel the washer machine. It also lasted longer than the spin cycle. It was just a shaking of the ground, but not so intense as to be threatening, which lasted about 60 seconds. .
The earthquake was 5.4 on the Richter scale. There were no fatalities from the quake. Although there was some damage. It was felt in Chicago were some chimneys fell. The gateway Arch in St. Louis shook. Most of the damage was confined to Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. The city worse hit was McLeansboro. The high school was damaged with broken windows and cracks in the walls of most of the classrooms. This is where Jerry Sloan attended school and played basketball.
Most reactions to the earthquake were similar to mine. On person said my shoes were shaking, but I was not shaking in my shoes.
 |
| Map from Wikipedia |
Charlie Wardle
ReplyDeleteYes. I was inside watching tv when the building started shacking and the light was swinging. Mom then said "It's an earthquake. The next day dad drove us around to look at some buildings that had a little damage.