CUSHING, Okla. (AP) — Dozens of buildings sustained “substantial damage” after a 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck an Oklahoma town that’s home to one of the world’s key oil hubs, but officials said Monday that no damage has been reported at the oil terminal. “Stay out of the area,” said City Manager Steve Spears, who noted that while some damage was superficial, compromised foundations and other potential problems would be difficult to assess until daylight in the city of 7,900 about 50 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the earthquake struck at 7:44 p.m. Central time and initially stated it was a magnitude 5.3 earthquake but lowered that rating to 5.0. An earthquake rattled central Oklahoma tonight, reportedly damaging multiple buildings in Cushing, about 50 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, and was felt as far away as Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri. Cushing Fire Department estimated the damage caused by the quake to the town center as “significant.”

A housing development accommodating senior citizens in the town sustained serious damage, according to the state’s emergency management office, News 9 reported. The community bills itself as the “Pipeline Crossroads of the World.”

Cushing Assistant City Manager Jeremy Frazier said two pipeline companies had reported no trouble as of late Sunday but that the community hadn’t heard from all companies. According to USGS data, there have been 19 earthquakes in Oklahoma in the past week, including a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck the northern part of Oklahoma last week, with an epicenter near Pawnee. The increase of high-magnitude earthquakes in the region has been tied to the surge in oil and gas operators' use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which water, sand and chemicals are injected at high pressures into the earth to release oil and gas trapped inside the rock. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has reportedly shut down some disposal wells and ordered a reduction in the amount of wastewater disposed of in others.
Buildings in Cushing, Oklahoma, U.S., sustain damage from a moderate 5.0-magnitude earthquake.