Earthquake concerns rising in mid-south

Earthquake fears in the Mid-South are rising following a series of quakes felt throughout the bootheel of Missouri.

Locals Concerned With Earthquake

One of the major earthquake faults in North America is located around the New Madrid area of Southern Missouri.

Locals in the area are expressing concerns following a flurry of earthquakes in recent days, as was shared in this article by the Sikeston, Missouri Standard Democrat.

The article states “Several earthquakes have been centered in areas close to the Kennett area over the past few weeks. One earthquake was centered near East Prairie, while another near Steele.”

The article continues “The recent activity is what has many locals questioning whether or not they are prepared. Kennett Fire Department officials have attended several classes where earthquakes were the main topic. Fire Marshall Dennis Hamlett advised that he and Fire Chief Paul Spain attended courses during the period of the Great American Shake Out, where they learned more about the New Madrid Fault Line and refreshed themselves on what to prepare for, should the big one hit.

“I’m going to say if we have a 6.6 or greater, there is going to be catastrophic damages. This is the type of scenario where neighborhoods will have to take care of each other, because firemen and emergency personnel become victims as well,” Hamlett said. “We learned recently that when the big one hits approximately 42,000 search and rescue personnel will be required to cover the area impacted.”

Hamlett said that although researchers say to have roughly 3-4 days of food and supplies, he would recommend a few weeks worth.

“The rescue and resources will go to the larger cities first, such as Memphis, Cape Girardeau, and St. Louis. So it’s safe to say that we will be on our own for a while,” Hamlett stated. “No one can say for certain how long it would be until we receive the aid and resources, because we don’t know how many bridges will be out or which ones, so it’s hard to make a plan for things like this.”

The New Madrid Quake Area & Seismic Hazards

Here’s a map from the USGS which shows “danger” areas, generally surrounding major known fault lines. The pink area around southern Missouri, southern Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennesse is the fault area.

Even the vaunted “American Redoubt” of Idaho and Montana have significant danger levels from earthquake.

I think it’s important that everybody who lives in a zone that is not in the lowest level should have an understanding of what their risks are. Additionally, if you are traveling, I think it’s important that you keep these risks in mind during your trip.

FEMA

Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’m going to borrow a couple of paragraphs from the FEMA website that explain seismic hazards surprisingly clearly (I mean it is government, after all):

“Seismic hazards are sources of potential harm or loss during earthquakes. They can be natural phenomena, such as landslides or tsunamis, that are generated by earthquake ground shaking. They can also be elements of the built environment, such as vulnerable buildings, brittle piping or loose equipment, which can become hazards when exposed to earthquake shaking.

Because stronger ground motions generate more seismic hazards or hazards that are potentially more dangerous or damaging, scientists measure seismic hazards in terms of potential ground shaking. That is, the level of seismic hazard in a region is measured as the likelihood that ground shaking exceeding a specified strength will occur in the region during a specified period. The probability of such shaking is estimated by analyzing past earthquake activity in the region, evidence of stress building up within area faults and how seismic waves are likely to move through the earth’s crust and overlying soils in the area.”

A Local Example Of A Seismic Hazard

In my area, North Missouri, we are north of the New Madrid fault area, and one thing we have to pay particular attention to (if we are awake and alert to the earthquake potential) soil liquefaction.

What is soil liquefaction? It’s when a saturated or partially saturated layer of earth loses both strength and stiffness during an earthquake, making the soil behave like a liquid. It’s something you see a lot in areas that are made up of sediment, or fill… a famous recent example of liquefaction is what happened in the Marina district in San Francisco in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake when that whole part of town jiggled like it was sitting on jelly. 

In my area, there’s a lot of land that is sandy because it’s former river bottom & silt that has built up over the years. I actually paid attention to the type of sub-soil my house and the place sit on, it’s not sub-soil that will liquefy. Having said that, I recognize that there is soil that will suffer from liquefaction one mile from my house… and in fact it extends to where a local lake has been built. 

There’s a good chance of many dam failures during the next New Madrid quake, and in addition to that, many of the bridges sit on land that will be hit with liquefaction… making bridge failure not just likely, but common. 

Understanding Your Earthquake Risk

I suspect a lot of people have no idea what their risks are for earthquakes, because they have either never really thought about it or if they have, then they’ve only considered their immediate personal safety.

I want to dig a little deeper into this, and will be relying both on training that I’ve had over the years and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) earthquake information. 

Probably like you, I’m not a huge FEMA fan, but their earthquake information is pretty solid, and based largely on the outstanding work of the US Geological Service (USGS). 

First, Let’s Get Personal Safety Out Of The Way

The longstanding recommended way of protecting yourself if you are caught in an earthquake is as follows: 

• DROP where you are, onto your hands and knees;
• COVER your head and neck with one arm and hand, as you crawl for shelter under a nearby table or desk;
• HOLD ON to your shelter with one hand until shaking stops (remain on your knees and covering your head and neck with your other arm and hand).

When an earthquake hits, how much immediate danger you are in may largely depend upon factors completely outside of your control, but knowing the general risks ahead of time may also keep you much safer in your home or workplace.

Unless You Specifically Told Your Insurance Company, You Are Not Insured For Earthquakes

Earthquake insurance on your house is not a standard part of homeowners insurance policies, so unless you have specifically asked for (and paid for) an earthquake rider on your property, you are not covered. Spice and I have a rider on our property.

Premiums will vary by earthquake zones, as well as (obviously) the value of the property being insured. 

This is personal prepping of a sort, but I wanted to put it up front so everybody saw it. If you don’t have earthquake insurance, I strongly recommend you give your agent a call. I am not an insurance agent, nor do I sell insurance over the internet (or any other way), I just don’t want to be out in the cold financially if my home is damaged or destroyed by something that I could have (in my case inexpensively) insured. 

Understanding Earthquake Risks

There’s a lot more to understanding earthquake risks than just “do you live in an active seismic zone”.

In fact, there’s an entire field of science dedicated to understanding and even predicting earthquakes, and while it’s really interesting stuff, it’s beyond the scope of this article.

There are three main factors that determine how at risk we are, according to… well… just about everybody in the earthquake safety business.

• The level of seismic hazard
• The number of people and amount of property that are exposed to seismic hazard
• How vulnerable these people and property are to the hazards

Let’s take a look at each of these risks…

Seismic Risks

Look at the picture above, it’s a photo of ground at the heart of the New Madrid fault area.  If you were standing in this field when the next “big one” hits, however, you would mostly likely be shaken but uninjured. Why? No structure to fall on you. 

According to FEMA, “Seismic risks are the harm or losses that are likely to result from exposure to seismic hazards. They are usually measured in terms of expected casualties (fatalities and injuries), direct economic losses (repair and replacement costs) and indirect economic losses (income lost during downtime resulting from damage to private property or public infrastructure).

Other, more specific measures of risk are also used for disaster planning, such as probable volumes and durations of utility outages and displaced households and amounts of debris likely to be generated.”

That’s why I look at cities in my area like St. Louis and Memphis and I get concerned about not only the potential catastrophic destruction and loss of life, but also the interruption of trade as vital routes like I-70 have to be shut down to repair bridges… and services like Fed Ex have to re-route everything (Memphis is their home base). 

Risk Maps For Your Information – USGS / FEMA

If You Haven’t Already Done So

Now is a good time to stop and evaluate your risk. Do you live in an area that is in any of the elevated danger areas on the map above? Do you have insurance on your home? If you are in a high risk area, what is your prepping plan for when the next big one hits? Can your bug out? Do you have a 14-Day Bag for every family member? 

If not, then isn’t now a good time to start?