The Great Michigan Earthquake of 2015

It’s the Start of the Breakdown, photo by Cherie

If I had a photo of the aftermath of Saturday’s 4.2 magnitude earthquake centered near Kalamazoo available to me,  I’d post it here. Since I don’t, here’s the kind of damage you wouldn’t see. mLive offered some facts about Michigan earthquakes, saying (in part):

When a 4.2 earthquake struck Michigan on Saturday, May 2, the common reaction was: Earthquake? In Michigan? Seriously?

The surprise was not misplaced. Earthquakes in Michigan are rare and tend to be minor. In fact, Saturday’s quake was the state’s most powerful earthquake since 1947.

The quake occurred about 12:20 p.m., with an epicenter about five miles south of Galesburg in Kalamazoo County.

Michigan has “very small probability of experiencing damaging earth­quake effects,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency says.

In fact, most tremors felt in Michigan originate elsewhere.

Michigan normally does not have earthquakes, the state’s emergency preparedness web page says. “However, we can suffer effects from earthquakes in neighboring states that have a higher likelihood of them.”

Michigan’s strongest earthquake on record occurred on Aug. 9, 1947, about 35 miles from the epicenter of Saturday’s quake.

The 1947 had a magnitude of 4.6 and was centered near Coldwater. It damaged chimneys and cracked plaster over a large area of south-central Michigan and was felt as far away as Muskegon and Saginaw and parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Read on for some more facts about Michigan earthquakes.

View Cherie’s photo background big and see more in her slideshow.