Just a note to all of you who followed my Japan trip.
You would know that our son is currently attending the Univeristy of Hiroshima. This morning at 5AM (Hiroshima time) he awoke to the 6.3 earthquake that was centered on Kyushu. He emailed me that if felt as if the entire foundations of his building were swaying.
Needless to say it was quite a shock for someone from the midwest.
He's fine and marking it down as just one more experience he had in Japan that he would never have had here.

oh dear...scary.
Glad to know he was not hurt!

Glad to hear your son is alright.

By the way, I was once in the middle of an earthquake in Springfield, IL. It was in the 1980s. The high-rise building I was in groaned and swayed. I'm sure it wasn't a strong one, but it was definitely an earthquake and it was definitely the midwest!

He was on the 4th floor and said it was pretty intense. Also his friend on the 10th floor (at 5AM they were in their dorms) had an even wilder ride.

I had read that there was a fault line in the Midwest. I just never heard of a quake around here.

Totally off topic from Asia here, but the largest earthquake ever recorded in the continetnal US was in Missouri in 1811: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake