Earthquake

It was a normal early Saturday morning on September 3rd. The majority of Northwest Arkansas was fast asleep, lost in their slumbers and dreams. All was quiet, until a major 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook nearly six states. Theater teacher Samantha Couch was not expecting to be awoken by such a massive tremor that morning.

“I was happily asleep until I heard the house shake and the bed moved. I was not able to go back to sleep after that. It was definitely a weird feeling to feel your bed move,” Couch said.

The epicenter of the quake was located in Pawnee, OK, just north of Tulsa. At 7:02 am, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, and Iowa were all aroused by such an unusual event. Junior Genna Head was spending the night at a friend’s house when she was scared by the shock.

“The door kept shaking, and then my friend’s dresser started shaking, and then her vanity started shaking, and I woke up and her whole entire house was shaking. I had no idea what was going on,” Head said.

After the initial quake, aftershocks ranged from 2.7 to 3.6 magnitude. Senior Carlos Alvarado was originally asleep and assumed someone was waking him up, but that was not the case that Saturday morning.

“I felt my bed moving, and I thought someone was waking me up, but there was no one in my room. My bed was still moving, and my mom rushed in and asked if I felt the earthquake,” Alvarado said.

Although the majority was awoken from this sizable quake, some still were fast asleep. Sophomore Sebastian Restrepo was one of these people, and had no idea an earthquake even occurred until a friend told him.

“I asked my friend how serious the earthquake was, and I didn’t give much thought to it. I didn’t expect to have an earthquake here in Arkansas,” Restrepo said.

Earthquakes have been growing increasingly common in this part of the country, and most fingers have been pointed to oil fracking in Oklahoma. But in the event of future earthquakes, how would this affect the surrounding region?

“I think the earthquake was caused by oil fracking in Oklahoma, but I hope a more serious one dosen’t happen. I might need to check to see if we have earthquake coverage in our homeowners insurance,” Couch said.

If earthquakes continue to become more prevalent and more intense, governmental action will be required to prevent damage and to raise awareness on the effects on the environment.

“Another earthquake is going to change the environment, and it’s going to change how we perceive things now. It’s going to be more real and we’ll have to deal with it since earthquakes aren’t as common in Arkansas,” said Alvarado.