Jun 27, 2009 5:32 pm US/Central
Cleburne Hit With Sixth Earthquake This Month
Melissa Newton
CLEBURNE (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Some residents in Cleburne were shaken from sleep as a sixth earthquake hit the town.
The 2.2 magnitude quake hit about 10:30 Friday night.
The USGS reports the epicenter was four miles south of Cleburne, and city officials say this most recent rumbling puts them a step closer to determining what's behind the series of small tremors.
This is the first earthquake reported since the city hired a team of geological experts from SMU. The team will take the information gathered from this earthquake and use it to determine the cause, and ultimately the effect of all this seismic activity.
Numerous calls poured into Cleburne's 9-1-1 call center late Friday night after some residents in the small town felt the ground shaking yet again.
This is the sixth earthquake reported in Cleburne in just one month.
Cleburne spokesman Charlie Hodges says they're trying to figure it out. "No damage, no injuries, but that question still comes up, why is it happening?"
Cleburne city officials hope they're one step closer to having an answer now that this 2.2 magnitude quake gives SMU researchers new data to go on.
"We'll have a better idea of how deep these events are; we'll have a better idea of the strength. We'll have a better idea of what lasting impacts they might have."
Some residents say all of the natural gas drilling in Johnson County may be causing the tremors. But others feel the hype is much bigger than the quakes. "No, didn't feel anything other than the occasional car stereo which is most likely what they're hearing."
The city was able to hire that team of geological experts at no additional cost to the city. They used a government grant to fund that. The equipment used to gather all the information on the seismic activity will be in Cleburne over the next 6 months.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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