Area of impact in major quake Courtesy: Mid America earthquake Center
Up until this point, the recent earthquake tremors felt in Chicago have been more a source of amusement than a source of alarm, but a new University of Illinois report says we could be in for the "big one."
The report warns that a major quake in the 7.7 magnitude range is a real possibility along the New Madrid fault line.
If a quake that size did hit, the report estimates at least 3,500 people would be killed and more than 80,000 others hurt.
In short, the quake could devastate areas in Illinois and other central states.
The report was commissioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and was headed up by University of Illinois Professor Amr Elnashai.
Other estimates from the report include:
- 715,000 buildings damaged
- 7 million people homeless
- 2.6 million households without power
- $300 Billion economic impact
The two towns most at risk because of their proximity to the fault zone are St. Louis, and Memphis, though towns in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas and Alabama will also see damage, according to the report.
An Associated Press article notes there were four earthquakes in the 7.0 range in 1811 and 1812, a time when the region did not have anywhere near the population and building density it has now. The AP says those quakes caused landslides and huge waves on the Mississippi that swamped boats. The ground was split with deep fissures.
The U of I report is available for download on the Internet. It's a technical, but also a fascinating, even frightening read. To download the report, click here.
Comments
Deborah - thank you for taking the time to download and review the report for your story. We at the Mid-America Earthquake Center, located at the University of Illinois, are quite proud of the study and hope it serves as a wake-up call for the emergency management community in the states within the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
Deborah - thank you for taking the time to download and review the report for your story. We at the Mid-America Earthquake Center, located at the University of Illinois, are quite proud of the study and hope it serves as a wake-up call for the emergency management community in the states within the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
Good one Deborah - great that you can still get the real message of safety out amidst the intense politics of the seismic world. Here in Australia our bureaucrats and leaders control such information and our east coast alerting system is so slow that we could lose a couple of million people - particularly in the early hours of a Sunday morning or public holiday. Duty of care must always over-ride those who are more worried about creating fear and impacting on various selfish agendas.
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Deborah, Thanks for this report. As you may know recently, here in Detroit felt the tremors from the earthquake that hit in Canada. Everyone was in disbelief as we don't often experience such weather.Keep up the good work.
And when does this suppose to happen???
And when does this suppose to happen?
HAARP? Maybe, but FEMA is getting ready for this. Look out in May.
Added: Jan 27, 2011 3:59 pm
This RFI is being cancelled in its entirety effective as of 4 pm Eastern Time on January 27, 2011.
FEMA cancelled the order of 1.4 million mre's..... They put out an order for enough food to help if this event happens and then seven days later they cancelled it. Makes a person wonder.....
. your fault line is being messed with. dead birds dead fish. these animals just do not roll over and die for no reason. the new madrid fault line was dormant but its being rudely awakened. ive seen enough , i know enough. if i can transmit to you guys from britain on a horizontally polarised beam antenna with 150 watts. with a 3 db gain . what can a multitude of beam antennas do to the ionasphere with a billion watts that cophase a beam that can be concentrated in one area to give a resonating frequecy that causes harmonics hunderds of feet underground.this is not rocket science. tesla discovered this over 100 years ago. they have used this technology to search for oil for decades.if your clouds get ripples in a resonating patern and you see a bright light in the sky. the ironasphere heating up. thousands of birds that use electromagnetic forces to navigate dropping dead. you can be sure that haarp is responsible. dont take my word for it. do your own research. its all here on the web. only the good lord can save us now. dark forces of evil are steering the world to destruction. pray for our lives.
This is scary stuff. I've been debating for so long if this whole earthquake scenario is natural or a conspiracy. One website I found www.thenewmadridfault.com seems to be dead certain it's biblically tied with the Middle East.
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