Prague Woman Picks Up The Pieces After Earthquake

Jamie Oberg, News 9

PRAGUE, Oklahoma -- Many across the state felt the rumbles many amazed it could happen here in the Sooner state, but for some near the heart of where the quakes hit, they're scared stronger and more earthquakes will hit here again.

11/5/2011 Related Story: 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake, Multiple Aftershocks Shake Oklahoma

News 9's Jamie Oberg takes us to the heart or the epicenter of it all where the 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit too close to home for one couple.

At first, the quake rocked Lincoln county homeowners into a state of shock.

"I cannot believe it did this much damage," Cherie Lewis said as she cleans up her den Saturday in Lincoln County.

11/5/2011 Related Story:  5.6 Magnitude Earthquake, Largest In Oklahoma History 

Lewis was still shaking. She said after 39 years of marriage, she and her husband Billy shared a scary and sleepless night.

"House just started shaking, lamps in our bedroom were breaking," Lewis said.

As Lewis picks up the pieces of little angels and doves broken and scattered throughout her home, she said it may not look like much to some.

"It's heartbreaking, you accumulate things over your lifetime and they're just gone, can't be replaced, none of this can be replaced," Lewis said.

"Honey they can't be replaced, the people who gave them to me can't be replaced," Lewis said. "[Keepsakes] were given to me by my mother, my grand-mother some are friends that have passed away and they're just gone."

Overwhelmed, Lewis knows her mobile home has always been in the path of twisters and storms.

"Breaks my heart to see it gone," Lewis said. But the Lewis couple never thought an earthquake would shake so close to home.

"My son says everything can be replaced, just mommy and daddy can't," Lewis said. "Just gonna pick it up and start again. That's what we do,"

Even after all of this, the biggest aftershock may be this…state seismologists said Oklahomans need to brace themselves for more earthquakes in the future.

State earthquake researcher Austin Holland said 40 aftershocks were recorded in Oklahoma after the initial 4.7 magnitude quake near Prague. Holland said there's been quite an increase in the number, strength and sizes of earthquakes in Central Oklahoma in the last two years, He also said though earthquakes work in cycles, that cycle may be heading towards more quakes here.

Holland said the earthquake and aftershocks occurred on a known fault line.

Now, USGS and the OU College of Geology are setting up a temporary seismic station to learn more about central Oklahoma earthquakes.