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.

Debris washed out into the ocean after Japanese earthquake and tsunami last Friday.

By Judy Reed

The U.S. Geological Service and Japanese has determined that the magnitude of the earthquake that hit the east coast of Honshu, Japan at 12:46 a.m. (EST) on March 11, 2011 was a 9.0, making it the fourth largest in the world since 1900, and the largest in Japan since modern instrumental recordings began 130 years ago.
The quake generated a tsunami, which hit Japan within 25 minutes of the quake with waves up to 33 feet high. The waves quickly swept inland for several miles, carrying along mud, boats and debris, including burning homes. The tsunami generated warnings for 20 countries, including the western coast of the United States and Hawaii, but did not create widespread damage for other countries. Deaths and injuries are in the thousands in Japan, and they now have radiation leaking from four nuclear reactors.
Honshu, Japan is still receiving aftershocks, including one of 6.0 Wednesday.
Cedar Springs resident Yuko Roberts, who works at the Cedar Springs Library, came here from Japan in 1986. Here parents live here now, but she has relatives back in Japan.
“They all live a little south of Tokyo. Although they felt the initial earthquake (o/a M5) there, and had power outages for a couple of days, they had no damage to their houses,” she said. “But people in Miyagi prefecture and other places where the M8.9 (now 9.0) earthquake hit are still suffering from more than 100 aftershocks (includes at least 3 new earthquakes). And the damages from the tsunami is way worse than the quake itself, not to mention nuclear power plant’s explosions,” she explained.
Yuko said that while she personally does not know anyone injured, her daughter’s friend, who is a Japanese exchange student, has a friend who lost his friend. So her kids have started a fundraising project at their schools, Yuko set up a jar at the library. She is calling it Project Senbazuru (Thousand Cranes). “For every one dollar you donate, I will fold one paper crane, and when it reaches 1,000, I will send them to Japan with messages and prayers along with $1,000,” explained Yuko.
She said she is looking into which charity might be the best organization to give the money to.
For a list of agencies supporting relief efforts in Japan, go to www.interaction.org/crisis-list/interaction-members-support-japan-earthquake-response.
Before donating, read an article from the Better Business Bureau on our business page about donating to charities (page 12).