Crime & Safety

UPDATED: 3.3 Michigan Earthquake Thought to Be Aftershock

The earthquake was along the same fault line where a quake was reported in early May, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A 3.3 magnitude earthquake was reported just before noon Tuesday along a fault line of a 4.2 magnitude quake that rattled western Michigan residents in early May, but no damage has been reported.

The earthquake occurred around 11:42 a.m. in Calhoun County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which posted information about the earthquake on its website.

The quake was felt in Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and surrounding areas of western Michigan, but also as far south as northern Indiana and as far north as Holland.

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Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the USGS, told WNEM-TV the earthquake seems to have been an aftershock from the May 2 earthquake, which was felt across the state.

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The 4.2 earthquake was the second-strongest earthquake ever to hit the state. In 1947, a 4.6 magnitude earthquake rattled Galesburg. May’s event left experts scratching their heads.

“Earthquakes with an epicenter in Michigan are fairly rare,” Larry Ruff, a seismologist with the University of Michigan, said after the May earthquake.

But officials don’t think the quake is related to fracking.

“In this particular area, it’s not very common,” Julie Dutton, a USGS geophysicist in Denver, told The Detroit Free Press. “You do have some earthquakes that can occur on some of the faults in the area and that’s what’s going on.”

Below are some of the tweets about the earthquake:


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