Carbondale Earthquake. 1968

 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

Earthquake Relief: Northridge Earthquake

I had the opportunity to go to Los Angeles for a week after the earthquake of 1994.  We stayed in a tall hotel in L.A. where the building shook a few times from aftershocks.  I was assigned to a crisis center in San Fernando at Northridge University.  It was pretty busy.  This is where people came who were applying for federal aid, needing to talk to insurance adjusters.  There was a health clinic. The staff for that were from the South, Georgia or Tennessee.  I talked with individuals and families about bout how they were coping.  We had a comic book to hand out that discussed regaining a sense of control after a tragedy.  There was also water bottled by Coors which was available for people to take.

We had staff at several sites.  At one site they helped someone get into the hospital.  I did not have so much excitement. 

We drove around the area to see the destruction.  It was funny to see how the damage was so random, one block destroyed and the next fine.  We say the apartments that had pancaked, and the parking garage which came down.

Sue Villanueva was our lead.  I ate Thai food for the first time, very hot but great peanut sauce.