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USGS says magnitude 4.5 earthquake hits near Pawnee

Posted at 4:46 AM, Nov 02, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-02 19:15:08-04

PAWNEE, Okla. - The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck near Pawnee late Tuesday night.

It hit about 14 miles southeast of Pawnee at 11:25 p.m. and was reportedly felt as far as Kansas and Missouri.

The earthquake shook Green Country just two months after the strongest earthquake in Oklahoma history hit near Pawnee. On September 3, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake damaged buildings and injured one person.

RELATED: Strongest earthquakes in Oklahoma since 2011

The Pawnee police and fire department have not reported damage.

“I never will get used to it. [It] makes me want to throw up,” said one resident.

Pawnee is known for things like being the birthplace of the man who created Dick Tracy but now they could have a new claim to fame: being an epicenter.

“My wife is about to go nuts,” said resident Johnny Bryant.

Bryant is still picking up bricks from that record-breaker in September.

“'Is there going to be another one? How big is it going to be? Is that ‘ole building going to be standing next year?'” he said.

The Pawnee Nation says their complex is sound for now, but the future for many century-old buildings is unknown.

“We had some plaster fall, we had the cracks develop a little bit longer,” said Pawnee Nation executive director Andrew Knife Chief. “If we go from these buildings, Pawnee Nation doesn't have a backup plan.”

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission says they're now considering new restrictions on oil and gas activity in the area.

Until then, residents in Pawnee wait for the earthquakes to stop and pray for their small town.

“We can adapt to about anything here in this town,” said Bryant. “It's just hard to live around these things.”

The OCC says it's already shut down a few disposal wells in the Pawnee area.

Directors say they're working with geological experts to have a full response to the quake activity in the next few days.

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