Oklahoma Earthquake Was Largest In State History
The 5.6-magnitude earthquake that rocked Oklahoma Saturday night was the largest tremor ever recorded in the state’s history.
The earthquake struck a day after residents felt smaller tremors across the region, according to reports.
Authorities in Oklahoma are reporting damage to homes and buildings, but could not confirm any reports of injuries or deaths as a result of the earthquake.
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The earthquake that struck the state is rare and left residents weary, according to officials.
"It's in an area of the country that doesn't see earthquakes very often and so they're just not use to having the shaking so maybe there are damages like things falling off the shelves and maybe some broken windows," U.S. Geological Survey geo-physicist Jessica Sipala Turner told ABC News.
The last major earthquake to hit the state was a 5.5-magnitute quake that struck in 1952, according to officials.
Tremors also were felt in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Illinois, according to reports.
Officials reported that sections of a highway in central-Oklahoma buckled as the ground shook beneath it.
Three separate sections of U.S. Route 62 buckled under the tremors, Aaron Bennett of the Lincoln County 911 and emergency management told CNN.
Smaller earthquakes have been reported in the state since Saturday night.
A 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck early Sunday morning just 36 miles east of Oklahoma City, officials said.
Officials reported a sharp increase in the number of earthquakes striking in the state. More than 1,000 were recorded in 2010 after seismographs were installed in the area.
However, it remains unclear why there is a sudden spike in the number of reported earthquakes in Oklahoma.
Prior to 2010, the state typically had around 50 earthquakes a year, officials said.
