Oklahoma shakes overnight

>>> here at home, folks are rattled in the heartland after a late night earthquake and a series of aftershocks that rattled a lot of homes and nerves across oklahoma . it is the latest big event in a state that has seen more than its share from mother nature this year. nbc's lilia luciano reports.

>> reporter: the 5.6 earthquake struck central oklahoma at 10:53 saturday night, catching many off guard.

>> all of a sudden it just shook and it just -- it was unbearable the stuff that was falling.

>> reporter: the tremors left behind buckled roads, cracked buildings, and collapsed chimneys. but fortunately no injuries or deaths. hardest hit was plague, a town of just over 2,000.

>> it knocked everything off the walls.

>> reporter: some 25 miles away at st. gregory university in shawnee, oklahoma , students were rattled.

>> everything started shaking. i was really scared.

>> reporter: the university spent the day surveying the damage where a campus building, nearly a century old, partially collapsed.

>> people think of st. gregory's, they think of this building. and so we need to remind ourselves of the importance of that and do everything we can to restore it.

>> reporter: the earthquake was the second in less than a day after a 4.8 was recorded early saturday morning. it has been quite a year for oklahoma . in may, a series of powerful tornadoes, including an ef-5 ripped through the state, wiping out homes and killing at least eight. and a drought lasting much of the year has seriously strained the state's economy.

>> oklahoma certainly has seen its share of extreme and record events. one, in fact, every season now from winter through spring, summer and now fall with this earthquake.

>> reporter: for oklahomans used to natural disasters , this time cleaning up from the unexpected. lilia luciano , nbc news, atlanta.