An 8.2 magnitude earthquake in Chile has killed six people.
Thousands lost power and the shaking caused landslides, bringing down power lines and blocking roads.
Fires destroyed several buildings, and fishing boats were lifted onto city streets.
Chile's president declared three provinces disaster areas.
Experts said this will not be the country's last major earthquake.
"We expect about another 8.8, 8.9 earthquake here sometime in the future. It could be tomorrow, it could be in 50 years," Cal Tech seismology professor Mark Simons said.
The earthquake was 5,000 miles away from Milwaukee, and while no one felt any shaking from it, the quake did leave a mark.
"Anything big enough to get above the noise level or digital seismometer will pick it up," UW-Milwaukee seismologist Brett Ketter said.
That's why Ketter wasn't shocked Tuesday's 8.2 was picked up by the school's seismometer.
Anything above an 8.0 is usually recorded all around the world. That means the school usually records on average, one a year.
Most of California's earthquakes have been below 8.0 in magnitude.
If this quake had been closer to land, the damage in Chile would have been much worse.
For a quake to happen in Milwaukee, the likely source would be a fault in Indiana.
In 1811, it produced the biggest earthquake recorded in the area, at 7.6.