A shakemap from the U.S. Geological Survey depicts the epicenter of the earthquake that struck Illinois Wednesday morning. The USGS said the quake registered a 3.8 on the Richter scale.

A 3.8 earthquake struck at 3:59am this morning here in the Midwest. The epicenter is said to have been 6 miles west of Elgin Illinois. No reports of major damage have been reported.

I used to live in Southern California where earthquakes are considerably more commonplace than here in Chicagoland. I was actually shaken awake by the earthquake. At first I thought it was a snowplow clearing the street but the duration was to long for it to be caused from the snow plow. Also, the house was shaking, more like rattling for just a few seconds, my guess was about 4 or five seconds.My experiences in California made it clear to me that it was an earthquake.

Later, when everyone was awake I was asked if I had heard the news about the quake and I gave them the time it happened before being told and before watching any news about it.

Fortunately this quake was nothing like the quake that just hit Haiti. For that I am grateful.