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Rare earthquake shakes western Michigan, registers magnitude of 4.2

A rare earthquake, registering 4.2 magnitude, rattled the western part of Michigan on Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Geologic Survey reported.
By Ralph Ellis

(CNN) -- A rare earthquake, registering 4.2 magnitude, rattled the western part of Michigan on Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Geologic Survey reported.

The quake struck about around 12:30 p.m. local time five miles south of Galesburg and nine miles southeast of Kalamazoo, the USGS said.

"It's rare for Michigan to experience earthquakes, but as we were reminded today, it does happen," Gov. Rick Snyder said on his webpage. "There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage because of today's earthquake, and that's fortunate because we are acutely aware of the challenges posed by such natural disasters in other parts of the world recently."

The earthquake was felt from Toledo to Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Maybe it didn't cause damage, but the earthquake created a stir on social media. A tweet from @CalebSeeley3 said, "I had to look on twitter to make sure I'm not going insane. #earthquake"

Graduates and their families at Western Michigan University had just filled an auditorium for commencement when the quake struck, CNN affiliate WXMI reported. A school official said graduation went on as planned, WXMI said.

This was apparently the second strongest quake in Michigan's recorded history.

The largest earthquake in state history was a magnitude-4.6 tremor that occurred August 9, 1947, in the south-central part of the state, the USGS said.

That quake damaged chimneys, cracked plaster and caused goods to fall off store shelves, the USGS said.

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