WEST SALEM, Ill. (AP) - A 5.2 earthquake centered in southern Illinois rocked people awake throughout the Midwest Friday morning, including in Missouri.

The earthquake surprised residents unaccustomed to such a large
Midwest temblor.

It happened just before 4:37 a.m. and was centered near West Salem, Ill., about 150 miles east of St. Louis.

St. Louis television station KSDK said viewers in St. Charles County, Swansea and downtown St. Louis reported feeling the tremor. One woman in the Kansas City suburb of Grandview reported to KCTV
that she felt it.

West Salem is in Edwards County, where a sheriff's dispatcher said several callers felt the earthquake but reported only minor damage.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey says this morning's 5.2-magnitude earthquake was likely generated by the Wabash fault zone in southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana.

USGS geophysicist Carrieann Bedwell says the quake about six miles from West Salem, Illinois occurred in a northward extension of the New Madrid fault area.

The fault is the country's most active seismic zone east of the Rockies and produces numerous small quakes a year, but most are too weak to be noticed by the public.

In 1811 and 1812, the fault it produced a series of earthquakes estimated at magnitude 7.0 or greater.

The Wabash fault zone generated a magnitude 5.0 quake in 2002 and a 5.1 in 1987.

This morning's sizable temblor was felt from Georgia to Michigan, but no major damage has been reported in Illinois.

The quake was also felt in the St. Louis area and eastern Missouri, and as far west as Kansas City.

The strongest earthquake recorded in Illinois was in 1968, a 5.3-magnitude temblor centered near Dale in Hamilton County, about 75 miles southeast of St. Louis. Minor damage was widespread, but there were no serious injuries or fatalities.

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