Mystery Tremor Felt in West Virginia
Hundreds of people in southern West Virginia reported
feeling the earth shake and hearing a thunder-like sound
Monday evening, but authorities are at a loss to say what
caused it.
The US Geological Survey's Natl Earthquake Information
Center in Golden, Colo, said there was nothing to indicate
an earthquake had occurred. Emergency officials in Raleigh
and Fayette counties are investigating, said Scott Tygrett,
a dispatcher for the Fayette County sheriff's office.
Brian Fox, a disc jockey at WJLS radio in Beckley, said
he had 400-500 calls from Raleigh, Fayette, Summers,
Greenbrier, Boone and Wyoming counties.
"A lot of people are saying it shook their whole house,
that it felt like a wave coming through," Fox said.
John Price, news director at Oak Hill TV station WOAY-TV,
said dozens of calls began coming in shortly after 6:30 PM
(EST).
John Minsch, a geophysicist with the US Geological
Survey, said the disturbance could have been a sonic boom,
which he said often is mistaken for an earthquake.
"I didn't see a thing that looked like an earthquake," he
said.
Federal Aviation Administration officials in Charleston
said they received no reports of a sonic boom in southern
West Virginia.
Steve Webber, director of the state's Office of Miners'
Health, Safety and Training, said his agency had received no
reports of any mine accidents that might account for the
noise and shaking.
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