The United States Geological Survey said the quake happened at 7:02 a.m. CT (8:02 a.m. ET) in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal.
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Following the tremor, the state Corporation Commission ordered 35 wastewater disposal wells within a 500-square-mile (1,295-square-km) area to shut down, Governor Mary Fallin said via Twitter.
Matt Skinner, the spokesman of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates the energy industry, said members of the panel’s seismicity team were at work and would provide more details “as available”.
Pawnee County Emergency Management Director Mark Randell said no buildings collapsed in the town of 2,200 about nine miles southeast of the epicenter, though damage was visible and being cleaned up or roped off for safety. Damage in the town appeared to be minor, and the Pawnee Nation declared a state of emergency for its area.
The quake was felt as far away as Nebraska.
Officials for Enterprise Products Partners LP, Kinder Morgan Inc., Magellan Midstream Partners LP and Enbridge Inc., which operate petroleum terminals, pipelines and storage facilities in Cushing, said their sites sustained no damage and that operations were normal.
Oklahoma has suddenly become a seismic state over the last decade, as an abundance of small earthquakes has accompanied the expanded use of deep injection wells.
Earthquakes in that region are not uncommon, he said.
The quake was also felt in surrounding states such as Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Bellini said he’s heard reports of some exterior damage to some buildings in Pawnee.
This is Oklahoma’s strongest quake since November 2011, and experts say it may tie the largest recorded in state history.
Wills said buildings in the downtown area are cracked and sandstone facing on some buildings fell and described the scene as “a mess”.
Previous year the state recorded 585 quakes of magnitude 3 or greater, up sharply from 109 in 2013. “Scientific studies have linked the majority of this increased activity to wastewater injection in deep disposal wells in several locations”, the release said. For instance, a magnitude 5.6-earthquake caused minor injuries and damage to homes in 2011 near Prague, Oklahoma.
Now living in the midwest, both McLean and Runyon are more afraid of tornadoes than earthquakes.
Jessie Wardarski | Tulsa World (AP) Max Horn helps to clean up the damage in White’s Foodliner after an early morning natural disaster in Pawnee, Oklahoma, on Saturday.
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Fallin tweeted Saturday morning that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation is checking bridges in the Pawnee area for damage.
