Magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattles parts of northern Illinois, USGS and police say

STANDARD, Ill. (AP) — A magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattled parts of northern Illinois early Wednesday, awakening some residents and spurring reports to 911 about homes shaking, the U.S. Geological Survey and police said.

The small earthquake was detected about 4:41 a.m. local time and was centered about sixth-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) south-southeast of Standard, Illinois, the federal agency said.

The town is located about 100 miles (161 kilometers) southwest of downtown Chicago.

The temblor occurred about 2.9 miles (4.6 kilometers) below the Earth’s surface, the USGS said.

Local police agencies said they had received no reports of damage due to the earthquake.

Administrative Lt. Doug Bernabei with the Peru Police Department, located several miles north of Standard, said he was up making coffee when his house shook. Suspecting it might be a quake, he turned on his police radio and heard numerous calls coming into 911 dispatch from residents.

“We received voluminous amounts of 911 calls. It was literally one call after another,” he said. “It shook my house. It wasn’t a rattle, I thought something hit the house. A lot of people were waking up.”

Bernabei said he had not heard of any reports of damage because of the quake. He said Illinois Valley Regional Dispatch based in Peru and which covers several north-central Illinois communities received many dozens of calls from residents who felt the quake.

A USGS earthquake map indicated that the shaking may have extended into parts southern Wisconsin, southeastern Iowa and northwest Indiana.

Randy Simpson, a dispatcher for Illinois Valley Regional Dispatch Center, said dispatchers on duty at the time received numerous calls from people who felt the ground shaking or the noise of their homes rattling. There were no reports of damage, he said.

Simpson, who lives in Mendota about 16 miles (26 kilometers) north of Standard, said he was up watching TV and didn’t feel the quake. But a friend who lives in the same community texted him to say he had just felt an it and that his house shook.

“He said, ‘Did you feel that?’ And I was like ‘Feel what?’” Simpson said.