Accounts of the 1812 quake vary since there were no measuring instruments at the time, but most geologists say evidence shows it was at least a magnitude 8 earthquake, and possibly a 9 or higher. The shaking was so intense that church bells started ringing as far away as Boston and New York. Chimneys toppled from the Deep South to Canada, and President James Madison was awoken by the violent shaking as he slept in the White House. Eyewitnesses said it even caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards for a time. At that time, the New Madrid region was sparsely populated. But today, tens of millions of people live there, and most buildings have not been built to withstand massive earthquakes. According to ABC News, a study by the Mid-America Earthquake Center discovered that even a magnitude 7.7 earthquake would cause incredible amounts of damage. The study concluded that “nearly 750,000 buildings would be damaged, 3,000 bridges would potentially collapse, 400,000 breaks and leaks to local pipelines and $300 billion in direct damage and $600 billion in indirect losses would occur.” So what would a magnitude 8 or a magnitude 9 earthquake look like? And most people don’t realize that there are 15 nuclear reactors along the New Madrid fault zone. In the event of a major earthquake, we could have multiple “Fukushimas” all going on at the same time.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 15:34:57 +0000
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