![Can Michigan Have Earthquakes?](https://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2022/02/attachment-RS14550_469538145.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Can Michigan Have Earthquakes?
This is a great question: can Michigan have earthquakes? Before I give you the answer to this question, take a look at the video below.
Earthquake the movie came out back in 1974. That was the year I graduated from Everett High School in Lansing. Everyone went to see Earthquake because that's not really something that happens here in Michigan...or is it?
Have there ever been earthquakes in Michigan?
The answer is yes!
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If we go way back to 1947 in southern Michigan, it was the largest historical earthquake and according to USGS:
Damage was the heaviest in the area southeast of Kalamazoo at Athens, Bronson, Coldwater, Colon, Matteson Lake, Sherwood, and Union City. Chimneys were damaged, windows and plaster were broken, and brick cornices were downed.
Generally speaking, Michigan earthquakes normally don't take place, but when they do it's something you will never ever forget.
Some may remember the Michigan earthquake that took place back in May of 2015. This was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in Kalamazoo County.
According to news.umich.edu:
Larry Ruff, a seismologist said today's quake, at 12:23 p.m. ET and 9 miles southeast of Kalamazoo, near the town of Galesburg, was the largest quake with an epicenter in Michigan since a magnitude-4.6 earthquake near the town of Coldwater on Aug. 10, 1947.
If you ask most experts, they will tell you that most tremors felt in Michigan originate elsewhere. In fact, Michigan normally does not have any earthquakes.
How many earthquakes in Michigan can you remember? I personally don't remember any earthquakes happening in Michigan.
I remember back in the '80s when all of Michigan felt a huge tremor from an earthquake that took place from one of our neighboring states. I remember it like yesterday. My walls were shaking where I lived at the time and I could hear my dishes rattling in the kitchen. It was kind of scary, but it only lasted for several seconds.
Can Michigan have earthquakes? Absolutely.
If we go back to Sept. 2, 1994, a Michigan earthquake of about 3.0 took place in this area.
News.umich,edu adds:
The epicenter of the 1994 quake was Potterville, which is southwest of Lansing, and it had a magnitude of 3.5. It was felt as far away as Grand Rapids and Jackson.
KEEP READING: What to do after a tornado strikes
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