I live in Kansas City, which is only a few hours drive from St. Louis, and relatively near the New Madrid fault. If you’re unaware, there’s a fault line that, for whatever reason, runs roughly along a part of the Mississippi River, which is nowhere near traditional active fault lines along the West coast.
While I knew some of the history of the New Madrid fault, I didn’t realize how dangerous it will be for much of the Midwestern states, especially western Tennessee, western Kentucky, as well as parts of Missouri and Arkansas, as the video below details.
The reason is largely two-fold:
- Many of the buildings and infrastructure (bridges, utilities, etc.) were never built – and most haven’t been retrofitted since – to withstand serious earthquake damage.
- The ground underneath much of the area will both transfer the power of the quake further, faster (or more powerfully, I can’t remember the phrasing) and also liquefy because of the soil structure, thus making the situation far worse once the shaking starts.
Although I once wrote a book about the massive damage that a Cascadia Earthquake would bring to much of the northwest and parts of Canada, a New Madrid quake could be a close second. If you live near the New Madrid fault zone, I recommend reconsidering just how bad an earthquake would be for your home, your ability to evacuate, and rescuers’ ability to help for week or months after.
