The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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June 27, 2009

Quake shakes area east of Covington and Garber

By Kevin Hassler, Associate Editor

People in the Covington area reported feeling a bump or rumble Friday afternoon, and there also were reports of the same in Enid.

What they felt was a magnitude-3.6 earthquake, according to U.S. Geological Survey, that hit the area at 4:23 p.m. The quake was centered seven miles east-northeast of Covington, 10 miles southeast of Garber and 23 miles east-southeast of Enid.

Brian Smith, Covington-Douglas High School principal and football coach, said he was dozing in a chair at the time while his son was watching a movie when he felt and heard “a loud rumble.”

“I thought it was something off the movie,” he said. “It just kind of shocked me.”

He said the tremor did not knock anything off any shelves. The noise sounded like thunder or someone slamming the door to his shop, he said.

“I ran outside and looked, but there wasn’t anything there,” Smith said.

His wife, who was pulling up to their house in their pickup said she did not feel anything.

Covington resident Christian Rink said she “felt a little bump.”

“Stuff rattled in here,” she said from her home Friday night.

Mike Honigsberg, director of Enid and Garfield County Emergency Manage-ment, said he received several calls about the earthquake, although he didn’t feel it.

He said he received several calls from people who were at the intersection of Garriott and Van Buren in Enid who felt the ground shake. There were no reports of damage.

Oklahoma Geological Survey records about 50 earthquakes in the state each year, with few reported being felt.

The last earthquake felt in Garfield County happened Feb. 22.

U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 3.2-magnitude earthquake at 3:43 a.m. Feb. 22, centered two miles south southwest of Lahoma, or 12 miles west southwest of Enid.

The strongest earthquake reported in Oklahoma was a 5.5 magnitude tremor April 9, 1952, centered near El Reno.

It caused moderate damage, according to U.S. Geological Survey, in El Reno, Oklahoma City and Ponca City, including toppled chimneys, cracked and loosened bricks on buildings and broken windows and dishes. The state Capitol suffered a crack 15 meters long.

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