Oklahoma quake shakes Midwest from Texas to Nebraska

A record-tying, magnitude 5.6 earthquake in Oklahoma shook the Midwest from Nebraska to north Texas this morning. Authorities have reported no injuries in the quake, which happened on the edge of north-central Oklahoma’s energy-producing region. People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo.; Fayetteville, Ark.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Norman, Okla., all reported feeling the earthquake. In Pawnee, Okla., the closest town to the epicenter, officials reported cracked buildings but no collapsed structures. Oklahoma experienced a nearly nine-fold increase in earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and higher from 2013 to 2015, according to the state government. Seismologist attribute the increase in part to the underground disposal of wastewater produced by the oil and gas extraction process known as “fracking.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.