By Judy Reed
Something happened last Saturday, May 2, that most of us in Michigan had never before experienced: an earthquake.
It was about 12:23 p.m. that the ground began to shake and lasted for several seconds. It originated about 5 miles south of Galesburg, in Kalamazoo County. Tremors were felt in most of lower Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and southern Ontario.
People all around our area felt the tremors. Reports came in to our Facebook page from Howard City, Gowen, Trufant, Sand Lake, Solon Township, Nelson Township, Cedar Springs, Harvard, Greenville, Grant, Kent City, Baldwin, West Olive, Byron Center, Grand Rapids, and more.
Linda Hovey reported that she felt it out by 20 Mile and Tisdel, in Nelson Township. “I heard a loud noise, the house kind of rumbled and shook,” Hovey wrote on the Post Facebook page. “TV was really moving. I thought someone hit the house. Crazy. Husband was napping and never woke up.”
Jessica Gentz, of Cedar Springs, said she had two picture frames fall off the wall. Meri McCarthy, of Sand Lake, said it felt like her washer was off balance. Monique Grice, of Solon Township, said her family noticed the couch and a light fixture moving.
Teri Cegellas, of Kent City, was sitting on her back deck. “I thought someone was shaking it from underneath, my husband playing a prank on me. Then I saw my birdfeeder swinging and knew that it was no prank,” she wrote.
While it was only a 4.2 earthquake, it was deemed “significant” because of the fact that not many happen here, and because of the number of people that felt it.
It was the biggest earthquake here since the 4.6 earthquake in August 1947.
Scientists have confirmed Saturday’s earthquake was not caused by fracking. Some scientists believer there is a fault line there that also caused the August 1947 quake.