Wait, there was an earthquake felt in this region about a year ago, so is this right?
From the article: ""We can't tell whether the recent cluster of big earthquakes in the New Madrid is coming to an end. But the longer the GPS data keep showing no motion, the more likely it seems."
I guess yours was one of the cluster. Kind of like braking to a stop. If they had regenerative braking on that quake then you could charge your batteries for forever. ;-)