Earthquake felt in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin – No damage reported

A magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattled northern Illinois and parts of three other states, including Wisconsin, early yesterday, awakening some residents and causing reports to 911 about homes shaking, the U.S. Geological Survey and police said.

The small earthquake was detected about 4:41 a.m. and was centered near the town of Standard, Illinois, about 100 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.

The tremor occurred about three miles below the Earth’s surface. People living as far away as southern Wisconsin, southeastern Iowa and northwest Indiana reported that they felt the quake.

Weak to moderate shaking was reported across that region but there were no reports of damage.

While there’s neither a history of large quakes in that area of Illinois, nor a known fault zone, small to moderate earthquakes can occur anywhere and anytime in the Eastern U.S. A magnitude 4.2 earthquake was centered near Fond du Lac On July 7th of 1922 and a 3.8 near Waupun in January of 1957.