Planners and Medical Responders Prepare
Earthquake planning and preparation had just about come to a standstill. Then came Hurricane Katrina. Someone said Katrina will look like a Sunday School picnic if this thing called the "New Madrid Fault" in Missouri, goes off.
Media over the next several months looked at the potential quake problem. Politicians said, "We need to do something." Emergency operations people started planning again what they would do. Daily visitors to this website, pre-Katrina, were 35 a day. Now, the weekday average is well over 200 new visitors daily. Youtube has videos about the prep. Amateur radio has updated ways to link computers in emergencies.
Home retrofit - Is your house ready? A couple sites: site1 | site2. The second link says a quake retrofitted house will hold 1000% as well as a non-retrofitted house.
USGS lists Paducah KY chances of serious ground shaking as greater than that of California. That has Paducah officials seeing red. See KY links, below.
Photo at right: Eagles at Reelfoot Lake
Bootheel
Our region is ill-prepared for 'the big one' 2005 Most of the century-old brick buildings in Piggott, Ark., would topple...
If the big one hit Southeast Missouri/Cape Girardeau
Memphis
The New Madrid will redraw our landscape 2005 When the Big One hits Memphis, there will be no warning.
How ready are we? 2005 As many as 4,300 people are dead... 500 bridges are destroyed.... Nearly 1 million households are without water service... debris could fill 1.24 million trucks. Economic losses exceed $77 billion.
- Erratic funding slows Memphis Bridge work; Bridge Pier settles
Dyersburg Interstate River Bridge sits way above bedrock.
St. Louis
Gov. Missouri Earthquake Insurance Task Force final report Dec. 2008
July 2005 - Debate over need for seismic building strength at St. Louis; river bridges strengthened The Reelfoot fault is building a pressure that could make it buckle again. Should St. Louis adopt strict building codes for a 1 in 2500 year event, with expensive retrofits? Anheuser Busch believes in preparation. This story has many good details.
Big quake - Remembering 1968 quake 30 years later - St. Louis Arch bounced up and down like a stainless-steel pogo stick.
Slow expensive upgrades to Highway 40
Here a billion, there a billion... we need a new Mississippi River (quakeproof) bridge from Blytheville Oceola Ark to Ripley Covington Tn. -- 20 mile toll road, tolls pay 25%. Could be done by 2015. -- Dec 2008
Ky, other
TOO MUCH prep in West Ky. Restrictions too tight, too costly.
Editorial: Quake prediction is like global warming hubbub. Paducah's quake chances are officially greater than California. Is this fair?
Mar 2008 - Fulton, Hickman, Carlisle and Ballard counties supposedly reduced to powerless, isolated communities. Ky dam fails. Paducah's uranium enrichment gaseous diffusion plant ruined. story2
If the big one hit Evansville IN 2005 Evansville is nestled between two faults
NPR 3 min audio - big NM shake likely sometime
SimCity for Big Boys - MAEviz could be considered a very sophisticated and scientific version of SimCity. However, you are working with real cities, real streets, real businesses... The Newmark Structural Engineering Laboratory building of the University of Illinois in Urbana hides a huge construction hall that is actually used to construct or reconstruct actual concrete and steel structures to test their seismic vulnerability.
SchweigScenario - Schweig (CERI, USGS Memphis)
describes New Madrid Fault problem, efforts to solution, to a House committee, 2006. Plus transcript of Schweig on CNN Lou Dobbs.
New Madrid quake threat downgraded considerably
USGS News Release 2003
Caruthersville tornado ruins 600 homes 2006
Comments of webmaster - Here we are in NM, no shakes yet. Iben media frenzy.
- Iben - Thinking back on Iben Browning media frenzy
Assignment for school kids of any age
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Mississippi sunset |
Off site
- Seismic Isolation Bearings on DeSoto Bridge, Memphis
- Quake-proofing Memphis VA Center is costly - 2003
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Disaster officials pitted against development officials - as Arkansas legislature considers tightening earthquake construction standards - Jan 2008 Ark. Lawmakers reject increased quake safety construction standards - Feb 2008 |
West Tennessee Seismic Safety Commission - May 2007
"common sense" planning, like giving outside health care professionals emergency ok to work here when necessary
Experts speak
Video documentary - order DVD
- NE Ark will have worse disaster by underestimating
- three to five major fault segments lying over the top of each other
- sandy soil, gumbo soil, water table near surface
- will need to rescue from crumbled buildings
Beaming damage assessment video from chopper to satellite
Ky Guard has new instant mobile air base - 123rd Contingency Response Group
CERI (Center for Earthquake Research & Information) - beginnings, post Iben, post Katrina.
Big Earthquake could devastate US Midwest - Nat Geographic 2006
CNN overview 2005 | Article 1986
Earthquake response
Branson Daily News - Oct 2007
The Missouri National Guard rehearsed in a state-wide exercise over the weekend as the first military responder to evaluate its ability ...
In our view: Earthquake preparation
Joplin Globe -
Members of the Missouri National Guard tested communications to make certain that they are prepared if a major earthquake occurs
Guardsmen train for quake response
Columbia Daily Tribune - Columbia,MO Oct 2007
The New Madrid fault is a network of deep cracks in the Earth's surface from southern Illinois to northeastern Arkansas. It produces hundreds of quakes a ...
News Notes
Protecting our families - Jul 23 08
Whatcha gonna do while awaiting catastrophes? National catastrophe fund?
Yes, we'll pay the insurance premium - Jul 18 08
The Madison County Board (Edwardsville IL, NE of St. Louis) approved $400,000 to protect its properties from earthquakes for a year. The vote was 25-2, with one board member saying it was "throwing away money." The county has $157 million in buildings.
The Calloway County (Murray, Ky) fiscal court voted $27,000 to keep the county covered for earthquake insurance for a year on a county property evaluation of $15 million.
Warning, danger! - Jul 08
Computer catastrophe models were supposed to stabilize long-term insurance prices in catastrophe-prone areas. But environmentalist warnings have skewed the models and helped drive insurance premiums through the roof.
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