Clean Up Continues In Hard-Hit Oklahoma Counties After Earthquake

Cleanup continues after earthquakes rattle Oklahoma. Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties were two of the hardest hit.

Monday, November 7th 2011, 6:30 pm

By: News On 6


SHAWNEE, Oklahoma -- Cleanup continues after earthquakes rattle Oklahoma. Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties were two of the hardest hit.

A small school in Shawnee was determined to not let the damage cancel classes Monday.

Chris Belyeu woke up to quite the scene Sunday morning. Ceiling panels, grid work, even lights had fallen from the top of the Family of Faith Christian School sanctuary.

Much of it is cleaned up now but Belyeu says after the late Saturday night quake this part of the school was unrecognizable.

"I think the biggest thing is you just have to get in and move on. We knew we didn't want to miss school today, we wanted to get in and get going on it," Belyeu said.

The school's library also felt the brunt of the quake.

"I would say half to two-thirds of the books were on the floor," said school librarian Linda Stewart.

Stewart says books were piled so high it was difficult to tell which shelf they came from, not at all what she was expecting when she went home Friday night.

The city of Prague was just a few miles from the epicenter. City Manager Jim Greft spent Monday looking for damage to public utilities. He says there wasn't anything serious.

"I was surprised that we did not have anymore damage than we did," Greft said.

Back at family of Faith, Principal Belyeu says his school has a disaster plan for tornadoes or severe weather, even one for earthquakes.

The catch, though, up until this weekend the earthquake plan was never actually written down. Now, he says that's changed.

"Now that we have an earthquake we already have a plan, we have it written now," Belyeu said.

Principal Belyeu says he's thankful there were no serious injuries during that earthquake, and that the school would not have been opened Monday without the hard work of the parents, teachers, and staff.

11/6/2011 Related Story: More Aftershocks Sunday, After Oklahoma's Largest Earthquake Saturday

11/6/2011 Related Story: How To Check Your House For Damages After Earthquake Hits

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

November 7th, 2011

March 14th, 2024

December 4th, 2023

September 25th, 2023

Top Headlines

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024