4.1 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Northeast Arkansas.

It was a shaky start for many Arkansans on Sunday morning. A 4.1 magnitude earthquake rattled parts of northeast Arkansas, almost 3 months since the last confirmed earthquake in that area. Houses shaking and pictures falling off the wall were some of the accounts coming into the National Weather Service in Little Rock. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake happened around 7:30 a.m., about 15 miles west, southwest of Blytheville, near Manila. The tremors were felt by people in northeast Arkansas counties, including Independence, White, Cross, St. Francis, and Pulaski. The quake was also felt as far away as Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and southern Illinois. Following the initial quake, there were 3 minor aftershocks, but no reports of significant damage or injury. The quake was the talk of Mississippi County, among the after Church lunch groups. Almost everyone at the Log Cabin restaurant had experienced a quake before, but many said this was the biggest and scariest they had ever experienced. "I just dropped a guy a couple dozen minnows and we`s right out there on the lot when it happened, he thought I was rocking his boat, I was trying to figure out what happened," said Manila resident Sharon Carpenter. Sundays earthquake follows one that happened in early February in Craighead County, within miles of the location in Manila. That earthquake was a 4.1 magnitude. Experts say a bigger one could be on the way. "The statistical analysis we do have indicates that in the next 15 years, we will see a significant magnitude earthquake. I can not tell you exactly where. But as more time passes without having an event, the more possibility that an event will happen in the near future," said Dr. Haydar Al-Shukri with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Historically, the New Madrid Seismic Zone has been the site of some of the largest earthquakes in North America. In the early 1800s, 4 catastrophic earthquakes rocked the area. Click on the following link for additional information on this earthquake and others that have recently affected our region. http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/