OZORA, Mo. – A small earthquake rattled southeastern Missouri Monday night. The magnitude 2.4 earthquake struck at 11:13 p.m. on January 20. It was centered approximately 15.5 miles east of Farmington and 32.1 miles south-southeast of Festus, Missouri. The tremor occurred at a depth of 3.7 miles underground.

No damage or injuries were reported from the quake, which was relatively mild for the area. The epicenter lies within the Illinois Basin – Ozark Dome region, a broad area spanning several Midwestern states that experiences periodic seismic activity.


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While less frequent than earthquakes along the West Coast, tremors in this region can be felt across wider areas due to differences in geological composition. The area’s last significant earthquake occurred in 1968, when a magnitude 5.4 quake caused damage across southern Illinois.

The region sits near the more active New Madrid seismic zone, which has historically produced some of the strongest earthquakes in the eastern United States. Co