A small earthquake centered near the LaSalle-Peru area hit central Illinois early Wednesday morning. Police say it led to numerous 9-1-1 calls about shaking or rattling homes but no reported damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey website says the 3.6 magnitude quake happened at 4:41:55 A.M. and placed the epicenter about a mile and a half south-southeast of Standard, IL.
Mike Phillips teaches at Illinois Valley Community College, which sits about six miles from the epicenter. As a geology professor, he says the earthquake offered his class a real life lesson.
"It reminds us that our earth is a really dynamic place," he said. "I asked my students who felt it, and a lot of students felt the earthquake. It woke them up and they said it felt like somebody hit their bed or hit their house. We are just beginning our discussion of plate tectonics."
Phillips says earthquakes of that magnitude are rare in this part of the state, but do occur about every five years.
He says people who felt it can share their experience on the Geological Survey website:
“There is another way to measure earthquakes and we call it ‘intensity’ and that’s based on reports and experiences of people," he said. "The more of those reports they can collect, the more information they have to use in their research to understand what this earthquake was like and what kind of effects it had.”
According to media reports, a USGS spokesman says shaking was felt as far as southern Wisconsin, southeast Iowa and northwest Indiana.