Oklahoma quake triggers ‘terrible’ shaking, but no fatalities, officials say

Oklahoma has confirmed a magnitude 8.8 earthquake in the town of Okmulgee that struck just moments after it was declared a disaster zone, and officials said it is likely the epicenter is the Okmula fault, which extends northward from the city of Coshocton to the Kansas border.

The epicenter was not immediately known.

“This was a very destructive earthquake that we have seen in the past,” Oklahoma State Emergency Management Agency Administrator John Hilderbrand said.

“We were getting calls from people that were in a building, a condo or something and were shaking, and they were telling us they were afraid to go back out.”

He said that, in some cases, people were trapped by the shaking.

The Oklahoma City area saw at least three aftershocks before dawn Friday, the largest of which was a magnitude 7.8 quake that caused at least $20 million in damage and killed eight people, including five children.

The Okmumulgee earthquake struck just after 3:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT).

Oklahoma Gov.

Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency and ordered mandatory evacuations of Okmo and surrounding communities, as well as the towns of Covington and Tipton.

Officials have said that the Oklahoma City disaster may not be over.

The official death toll is unclear, though Hildersbrand said that at least eight people have died and hundreds of people have been injured.

Authorities have reported no reports of damage.

The Covingtons and Tippetts have been hit hard by the quake.

The earthquake also triggered a powerful aftershock that brought down power lines and knocked out internet services in the area, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.