BRANSON MISSOURI NEWS:
If you felt the ground moving Saturday morning in the Tri-Lakes Area, you are not alone.
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake happened in Pawnee, Oklahoma Saturday around 7:02 a.m. according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no serious injuries reported.
The Branson Tri-Lakes News asked local residents if they felt the earthquake via Facebook post. Multiple residents responded by saying they felt the ground moving or heard a thud.
In a phone interview Monday, Pat Davis, a Red Cross community volunteer leader who lives east of Hollister, said she felt the temblor.
“My bed was shaking. I looked to see if somebody was there, but of course there wasn’t anyone. Then I heard the ceiling pop. It was a little startling,” Davis said.
Asking if she thought it was an earthquake, she said, “The thought crossed my mind. With the Red Cross, we’ve talked about earthquake issues,” Davis said.
Although the U.S. Geological Survey said the cause of the quake is unknown, several media reports have speculated about underground wastewater storage. Davis said she used to work in the Oklahoma oil fields and dispatched several of the trucks to dispose of the water that is leftover from the drilling process.
“I don’t remember ever experiencing an earthquake,” Davis said. “For me, it’s a new phenomenon.”
Taney County Emergency Management Director Chris Berndt said although he did not feel it himself, he spoke with several people who did. He said some felt the quake for as long as 45 seconds and others for only a few moments.
“It was obviously a much stronger one than normal,” Berndt said.
There were no damage reports relating to the earthquake, according to Berndt.
The fire district receives earthquake alerts across Missouri and surrounding states, according to Berndt. For Missouri, a typical earthquake is between a magnitude of 2 or 2.5, he said, and he mostly receives alerts of quakes happening in the Arkansas and Oklahoma area.
Although many Oklahoma earthquakes in the past have been triggered by wastewater fluid injection, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the agency stated that it cannot conclude the earthquake was or was not caused by industrial-related human activities “without studying the specifics of the wastewater injection and oil and gas production in the area.”
The agency will continue to process seismic data, according to its website.
For more information and updates about the earthquake, visit usgs.gov/news/magnitude-56-earthquake-oklahoma.
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