FEMA worried about New Madrid

So why suddenly is the New Madrid fault at the top
of their list? Is it really because of the Katrinia
response? Or is it something else? I'm betting
on the 'something else'.


www.foxnews.com...

except



[edit on 3/2/2006 by FlyersFan]

Probably because a majority of buildings in that area are not built up to sesmic codes like hrere in Calif,so no sheer walls or let in braces will cause buildings and homes to shake apart,which will cause utter devastation,I'm thinking of deaths in 100 thousands

A high magnitude quake on the New Madrid fault could cause widespread devastation. Something like 20 states could be affected. Its a big concern, because New Madrid is approaching overdue for a big quake. As time goes on, the chance of a HIGH magnitude earthquake on the New Madrid fault increases.

And who knows, maybe they realize that they can't handle a dang thing when it comes to disaster.

--Kit.

I think Oldtimer's got it right -- buildings really aren't up to code for earthquakes. And Kitsunegari makes good points about why they're doing this.

Here's the USGS page on it:
quake.wr.usgs.gov...

Problem is, there's been a lot of areas where "high magnitude earthquakes" are "overdue" and we haven't seen the quakes. I think that the public will start getting annoyed with planning for the "dangerous but remote possibilities", particularly if plans for "fairly frequent disasters" (like floods) are ignored.

There was a program on the Weather Channel the other night called It Could Happen Tomorrow. I would say half of the reports they have done so far are nonsense. F5 hitting Dallas? Very unlikely. Major hurricane hitting NY City? Also unlikely. Mount Rainier eruption? Very possible. New Madrid quake? Very likely. Of all the programs they have run the New Madrid quake scenario is really the only one that could "happen tomorrow". It is frightening when you think of the possibility of multiple 7.0+ quakes in a month. Each quake just stacking up the damage from the previous quake. The report said the damge of a quake in this region of the country would cause damage over an area 20 times greater than a quake of the same strength on the west coast. The damage estimates they used were one hundred billion dollars. I think we know after Katrina that 100 billion goes very fast. If the early 1800's quakes were repeated I feel confident that the property damage would approach a quarter of a trillion dollars. The overall economic impact would be far worse. Something of this magnitude would thrust the US into a depression for a decade or longer. You are talking about the total destruction of Memphis and severe damage to places like St. Louis, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. A walk through these towns afterwards would remind you less of New Orleans and more of Biloxi. Major city centers would face severe damage. You may be looking at the collapse of many high rise buildings. Older neighborhoods would be in total ruin with fires buring out of control for days if not weeks.

I live in Indianapolis. I dread the day this happens. Most of this city will go up in flames. This city is served by natural gas. Alot of neighborhoods around town are 90 to 100 years old and all with very old gas lines. Most areas around town have aerial power lines. These will certainly come down in a major quake. This is the spark needed to cause massive gas explosions all around town. I would bet that 90 to 95% of the 1.7 million people in the metro area have absolutely no idea what to do in the event of a quake. The number of dead in this city alone from collapsing buildings and gas explosions will certainly be approaching 10,000. Thats being nice. Thats assuming it happens at night when people are at home asleep. If it happens during the day when people are in large buildings at work you could see that number multiply by 10. The numbers could be to 2 to 5 times higher in Memphis. That city will be gone. It will be nothing but a pile of rubble. Some of the buildings constructed within the past 20 years might stand. Might. The rest will surely crumble. And what gets left standing after the first 7 point quake will likely come down when the 2nd & 3rd 7 pointers hit in the following days.

How do you begin to prepare for something that would make the tsunami look like a ripple? Do you even bother to prepare or just deal with it when it happens?