Oklahoma hit by 5.6 magnitude earthquake- the strongest in the state’s history

November 6, 2011 – OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – A stronger 5.6 magnitude earthquake has struck the state of Oklahoma about 63 km (39 miles) SSE of Stillwater. This is the most powerful earthquake to ever strike the state of Oklahoma. The earthquake was felt in at least 8 states. The epicenter of the earthquake was 34 km from Shawnee, 71 km (44 miles) from Oklahoma City and about 311 km (194 miles) from Dallas, Texas. Before today, the strongest earthquake Oklahoma had seen was a 5.5 magnitude quake which struck the state on April 9, 1952 near Reno, Oklahoma. Earlier today, the state was struck by a 4.7 earthquake. Today’s 5.6 earthquake was another very shallow event- registering at a depth of 5 km or 3.1 miles but felt as far away as Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Texas and Kansas. Panicked residents reported houses and buildings were shaken by the latest tremor but we have not received any initial reports of damage other than the buckling of three sections of Route 62. –The Extinction Protocol

Cause of quakes unknown: “We have had eight recorded earthquakes (in Oklahoma) in the past 24 hours or so,” she said. McCarthy is the team chief scientist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver, Colo.  Aftershocks are earthquakes too, but usually we talk about the main event. They just represent the cluster of activity that happens after a bigger quake,” McCarthy said. Aftershocks typically decrease rapidly with time, but whether or not a stronger earthquake is in our future cannot be predicted, she said. Oklahoma is not near a plate boundary, McCarthy said, but seismic activity in the state is not uncommon and the cause of them is not known. “They’re a little bit more anomalous, but they’re not necessarily unusual,” she said. “We’re unsure what that origin is,” McCarthy said. -Newsok