Earthquake "Aftermath"

I am sure many of you have heard about the 5.4 (smaller or larger depending on who you hear it from) earthquake that hit Illinois at about 4:40AM Central followed by a smaller aftershock about 6 hours later. I am just informing you that the affects of the quake were minor here in Chicago, as we're over 200 miles from the center of the earthquake zone. There has been no noted damage to any of the data center subsystems during the checks performed this morning, and there is no reason for concern.

Personally, the earthquake did wake me up this morning. It was a bit of a surprise here in Chicago, but it was just a gentle rocking motion, a little like a train ride. It took me a bit to figure out what was going on. After realizing it was lasting too long (about 15 seconds) to be a wind gust against the side of the building (or similar) and that it was an earthquake, my first concern was that it was a large 8.0 quake in the New Madrid fault zone, as I figured that was what was necessary for me to actually feel it here. Such an earthquake would have been potentially devastating to cities such as Memphis and St. Louis. We were saved from the damage here, but some in St. Louis and Louisville, which are both much closer to the center of the quake, didn't fair as well, though there is no major structural damage reported, last I heard. You can see some pictures of the damage here.