TheWabash Valley is aregion located in sections of bothIllinois andIndiana. It is named for theWabash River and, as the name is typically used, spans the middle to the middle-lower portion of the river's valley and is centered atTerre Haute, Indiana. The term Wabash Valley is frequently used in local media inClinton,Lafayette,Mount Carmel,Princeton,Terre Haute, andVincennes all of which are either on or near the LowerWabash River.
Counties in the Wabash Valley includePosey,Gibson,Vigo,Clay,Sullivan,Vermillion,Parke,Greene,Putnam,Owen,Knox,Daviess,Martin,Fountain,Tippecanoe andWarren counties in Indiana. The Illinois portion consists ofClark,Edgar,Crawford,Jasper,Cumberland,Coles,Douglas,Gallatin,Edwards,Wabash, andWhite counties. It also may or may not include, depending on the source,Montgomery county in Indiana, andLawrence,Richland,Vermillion,Champaign,Clay, andEffingham counties in Illinois due to theLittle Wabash River.[citation needed]
TheWabash Valley Fault System in southeastern Illinois, southwestern Indiana, and adjacent corner of Kentucky extends about 60 miles north-northeastward from just north of theShawneetown and Rough Creek Fault Zones.AMagnitude 5.2 quake took place in the Wabash zone[1] on April 18, 2008 at 09:37 UTC (04:37 CDT), about 41 miles NNW ofEvansville, Indiana, near the community ofBellmont, Illinois.[2] It was felt all across southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western and central Kentucky and eastern Missouri, waking people up inChicago andSt. Louis, 123 miles away.[3][4] This was followed by several aftershocks and a second, magnitude 4.6 quake at 15:14 UTC (10:14 CDT).[5] There were no injuries or serious damage reported late Friday morning, April 18, 2008.[6] InMt. Carmel, Illinois, 15 southeast of the epicenter, a woman was reported trapped in her home by a collapsed porch but was quickly freed and wasn't hurt, said Mickie Smith, a police dispatcher there.[6]
The earthquake occurred on the 102nd anniversary of the1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The largest quakeclaimed to have taken place in this Zone was a 5.4 earthquake in 1968.[citation needed]
