By Tammy Neely
Contributing Writer
Earthquakes are commonly unheard of in Durant. However, that is exactly what students and faculty experienced earlier this month.
On Wednesday, Oct.13, the campus of Southeastern felt the embodiment of an earthquake. Well, some did.
At 9 a.m. Dan Moore, executive director of information and technology, received word from the U.S. Geological website of an earthquake rated to be a 4.1 in the Norman area said Campus Director of Police and Safety Jon Clouse.
It took only seven minutes after they received the information for Moore to send alerts to all campus computers said Clouse. Clouse said texts were also sent out to staff.
A meeting among the Campus Police was later held to discuss proactive ways to handle situations like these, said Clouse.
They received an abundance of calls pertaining to the quake. Clouse said that in such situations, students should leave the lines available to emergencies only and stay by their computers for notifications of important information.
Captain and Assistant Director of Police and Safety Stacey Ballew walked the grounds after the campus had calmed and found nothing to be destroyed or even disturbed. “Everything was the same,” Ballew said.
Southeastern has an Emergency Response team that is trained here at Southeastern known as CERT, which stands for Community Emergency Response Team. They are at constant standby, said Ballew.
One person who felt the quake was Librarian Kate Plunkett. Plunkett was at her desk on floor 2A of the library in archives when she felt her windows rattle and the room was shaking. “I thought it was a nearby explosion,” Plunkett said.
According to Plunkett, no one downstairs felt the earthquake. Yet a student on the second floor saw books move. No damage was found in the library, Plunkett said.
“It could have been worse,” she said.