Earthquake shakes swath of Midwest from Nebraska to Texas

An quake of the same magnitude rattled the region in November 2011.

At approximately 7:02 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey reported the tremor happened northwest of Pawnee, Okla.

J Berry Harrison captured a photo of bricks sprawled across the street from a building in Pawnee, Oklahoma, after a 5.8 magnitude quake struck the area. Such a quake, though, is strong enough to be felt many miles away.

Tremors were also felt at the Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska, about 350 miles north of Pawnee, but operations were unaffected and no damage was reported, said Drew Niehaus, a spokesman based at the plant.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the oil industry in the state, is contacting the operators of the wells in a 500-square-mile area around Pawnee, Governor Mary Fallin said in a Twitter post.

The number of magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes has skyrocketed in Oklahoma, from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 900 past year.

Geophysicist Jefferson Chang with the Oklahoma Geological Survey said a hard, or competent, bedrock crosses north-central Oklahoma while the subsurface around Prague is softer.

The Pawnee County emergency management director says no injuries have been reported and no buildings have collapsed following a magnitude 5.6 quake that ties a 2011 temblor for the strongest in Oklahoma history. Some parts of Oklahoma now match northern California for the nation’s most shake-prone, and one Oklahoma region has a 1 in 8 chance of a damaging quake in 2016, with other parts closer to 1 in 20. Fracked wells produce large quantities of wastewater, which drilling companies inject into ultra-deep disposal wells. That also brings up fracking fluid and salty groundwater. Since the quake, the USGS office in Oklahoma reported at least seven aftershocks between magnitude 2.7-3.6 near the epicenter of the magnitude 5.6 quake. “So initially that’s what I was expecting, but then it lasted and continued and as seconds turned into half a minute, it started to be very alarming so I went in to check on our children and my wife and keep our family safe”. Earlier this week, the same spot, which is about 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, saw a magnitude 3.2 temblor. “It’s still standing, but some of the outer layers of sandstone fell, it could be cosmetic damage, we don’t know yet”, informed the city’s mayor Brad Sewell to CNN News.

One minor injury has been reported as the result of a 5.6 magnitude quake in north-central Oklahoma.

The depth of the natural disaster was about 4.1 miles, which experts say is fairly shallow.

People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Norman, Oklahoma, all reported feeling the quake.

Pawnee city workers are checking gas lines in the city buildings, FOX23 reports.