As An Earthquake Shakes Residents, Oklahoma Tweets

There's nothing quite like being shaken right out of bed a few minutes after 7 a.m. on a weekend you'd hoped to enjoy sleeping in. While a quake at any time of day can send your heart pounding, it can be downright disorientating to wake up to the earth rolling. Yet that was exactly the wake-up call many Oklahoma residents received Saturday when a 5.6 magnitude earthquake centered just outside Pawnee, Oklahoma, sent tremors through cities across the southern and midwestern states at roughly 7:02 a.m. local time. From Pawnee to Pawhuska to Edmond to Morrison to Oklahoma City, residents throughout the state took to Twitter to share their reactions to one of the strongest earthquakes in Oklahoma's history.

While tremors from Saturday's quake were reportedly felt in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Texas, and Nebraska, it was residents in Oklahoma who felt the shaking the strongest. Saturday's earthquake tied one that struck the same region in November 2011 to be the strongest quake to hit the state of Oklahoma, according to the Associated Press. A series of aftershocks (at least eight had been recorded in the two and a half hours following Saturday's early morning quake) were also reported to have hit Oklahoma by the United States Geological Survey.

Some Oklahoma residents took to Twitter to share pictures of damage the quake had caused in their area. The most extensive damage was reported in Pawnee, where rubble fell into the street from some buildings and residents and business owners reported things falling off shelves and walls.

For many in Oklahoma, Saturday's quake was an exciting start to a holiday weekend many had hoped to spend snagging a few extra hours of shut-eye. Cue the collective "why am I awake so early" groans (which I, at least, totally understand and empathize with).

For Oklahoma residents in towns scattered around the epicenter, Twitter became a space to share their experience in being jostled by the 5.6 magnitude quake. While some reported Saturday's tremor making them feel a bit more frightened than previous earthquakes, others described how the quake hit in their area. Although structural damage was reported in Pawnee, a town roughly 9 miles from the quake's epicenter, no buildings had collapsed, the Boston Globe reported Pawnee County Emergency Management Director Mark Randell said Saturday. At least one resident of Pawnee was reported injured by falling debris in the earthquake, according to local Oklahoma News 9.