2008 Illinois earthquake

The shock was felt as far west as Omaha, Nebraska, as far south as Atlanta, Georgia,[5] as far east as Kitchener, Ontario,[6] and West Virginia,[7] and as far north as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The earthquake was felt so far away, compared to earthquakes in other regions, because the old, rigid bedrock beneath much of the Midwest allows the seismic waves to propagate further.[7]

Close to the epicenter in Mount Carmel, Illinois, a woman was briefly unable to exit her home due to a collapsed porch, and a two-story apartment building was evacuated because of loose and falling bricks. The Edwards County sheriff's department took reports of minor damage in West Salem, Illinois.[8] Just across the Wabash River in Indiana, Unit 4 at the Gibson Generating Station automatically shut down due to its vibration sensors,[9] and in Princeton, a woman was cut when a crystal figurine was knocked from a shelf in her home.[10] A man had an eye injury at an unknown location, but medical attention was not sought.[11]

In Louisville, Kentucky, some bricks broke off from an older building near downtown.[8] Slightly further away in St. Louis, Missouri, a portion of the South Kingshighway Boulevard viaduct were closed because of loose pieces of concrete, but whether this was debris-related is unknown, and traffic resumed half an hour later.[12] Several chimneys also collapsed in south St. Louis, the St. Francis de Sales Oratory reported damage to its steeple, and the Basilica of St. Louis King of France reported small fragments from the mosaic ceiling. About 35,000 people in St. Louis County were without power because the Labadie Power Station went offline due to excessive vibrations. Power was restored by midmorning.

Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky state highway crews investigated if any roads or bridges were damaged in the area. Cracks were reported on U.S. Route 51 near Cairo at the state's southern tip.[13] No roads were reported to be damaged in Kentucky, but inspections were being conducted in the Louisville, Paducah, and Henderson districts, according to the Kentucky Department of Transportation. [14]

More than 250 aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 0.7 to 4.6 were documented in the month following the mainshock, including the largest, which occurred later in the morning. The other stand-out shocks in the sequence were the M4 event on April 21, an M4.2 event on April 25, and a M3.4 shock on June 5 CDT.[15]