By KAREN CAMPBELL
Several residents from around Auglaize County woke to feel the aftershocks of a 5.4-magnitude earthquake this morning.
“We had a number of calls of windows rattling, houses and beds shaking, and alarms going off,” Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Troy Anderson said this morning.
He said after-effects of the quake, which lasted between 20 seconds and a minute, seemed to be felt at various locations throughout the county, from Minster to Cridersville, but no damage was reported.
“I figured we wouldn’t be able to feel it here, but it shows we still have active faults in the area,” Anderson said. “About once every 10 years, we feel something. I’m not aware of a major earthquake in the area since the 1800s.”
Today’s earthquake, which appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region, happened just before 5:37 a.m. (EST) and rocked people up to 450 miles away, according to reports from the Associated Press.
The quake, centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind., was felt throughout the Midwest in cities such as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Des Moines, Iowa, but there were no early reports of injuries or significant damage.
Calls of aftershocks came into the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office beginning at 5:42 a.m. with several received through 5:46 a.m., according to the log book.
The calls came from south of Wapakoneta, north of Waynesfield and west of Minster.
“Depending on what degree of shaking they felt, we tell them to check to make sure everyone is safe in the house and that there is no damage to the foundation,” Sheriff Al Solomon said this morning. “The main thing is to make sure everyone is safe.”
“We appreciate receiving calls and supply what information we can,” the sheriff said.
He said neither of his deputies on the road felt the tremors.

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