Cushing Earthquake Recovery Underway

A 5.0 earthquake caused walls to topple and ceilings to collapse in Cushing Sunday night. The downtown area saw the most damage. The city manager said most of the buildings were built in the early 1900s.

Emergency management crews updated the media and public about the extent of the damage in a news conference Monday morning. They said there is extensive damage to old and new buildings, including one public building that is only five or six years old.

Cracks throughout building, walls and ceilings collapsed, crumbling facades - those are just some of the damage the quake behind.

“I am very proud of the respond we’ve had; I do believe we are well prepared," said Cushing City Manager Steve Spears.

"There’s just so much you can do in terms of preparedness that basically just try to stabilized the incident initially and then we go into recovery - and we’re going to be in recovery for several weeks. But any time you have a disaster to learn from that to be better  for the next one.”

They ask the public to stay away from the downtown area unless they have specific business there as the area is not secured, the city manager said. Police officers are stationed downtown to monitor businesses that were left vulnerable.

11/6/2016 Related Story: Earthquake Causes Major Damage In Downtown Cushing

No major injuries have been reported. One man was hurt when part of a wall hit him on the arm, according to the fire department.

Building inspectors and other safety crews continue to survey the damage. One building inspector said the city did a walk-through with an engineer at 7 a.m. Barricades will be up for at least the rest of the day. 

City crews are also talking to the oil companies about the storage facility in town, but there haven't been any reports of damage so far.

Residents of one Cushing apartment complex are in a shelter after their building was damaged during Sunday night's 5.0 earthquake. The shelter, at the Cushing Youth Center, is hosting 14 people, they said.

Cushing Public Schools and some other public buildings are closed as damage is assessed.

11/7/2016 Related Story: Cushing Public Buildings Closed As Earthquake Damage Assessed

Any citizen that has damage is asked to call 918-306-4151.