KALAMAZOO — Tremors shook Kalamazoo and surrounding areas this morning as a result of an earthquake in Illinois that could be felt from Detroit to Cincinnati to Des Moines, Iowa.
The earthquake’s 5.2 magnitude shook people awake this morning at 5:37 a.m. and had several calling their local police agencies to find out what was happening.
The Van Buren Sheriff’s Department fielded calls from five to 10 people who were trying to find out what was going on.
“You’re not crazy. We did feel something,” dispatcher Tim McGee said he told callers this morning.
McGee was in the basement of the sheriff’s office when he felt the quake. He said he thought it was big trucks driving by and didn’t think much of it.
Palisades Power Plant in Covert Township declared unusual activity at 6:03 a.m. and auxiliary operators were instructed to check all areas of the facility for damage, Communications Manager Mark Savage said. No damage was reported, and the plant continues to run at full power, he said.
For some, the quake was an early alarm clock. “I got woke up by it this morning,” said Jason Assink, a dispatcher for South Haven Police Department. “I wasn’t sure if it was a ceiling fan going awry.”
Assink said he only received one phone call, but 10 to 12 people called the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department.
“I felt movement,” Kalamazoo County dispatcher Rita Morrison said. “I thought, What was the matter with me?”
Morrison said she was getting ready for work this morning when she felt the tremors.
Her dog also detected the earthquake and barked when it felt movement, she said.
The quake, just before 4:37 a.m. Central Daylight Time, was centered six miles of West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind.
It was felt in cities as far away as Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Des Moines, Iowa, which is 450 miles northwest of the epicenter.

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