Central regions of the United States are at risk from impending magnitude seven earthquakes. According to the experts, the event can strike anytime for the next 50 years. Following the study, authorities warned citizens living on the potential epicenters to get their preparations ready before the calamity.
New Madrid Fault Line and Central US
According to the findings, the magnitude seven earthquake could hit among the areas that the New Madrid fault line encompasses. Significant destruction could hit Missouri, where the majority of the fault line rests. Alongside the state, the earthquake could strike neighboring cities such as Tennessee, Arkansas, and Indianapolis.
Butler County emergency management director Robbie Myers explained that despite the 45-million population living near the New Madrid fault line, warnings from both the experts and the local governments are being ignored by the citizens.
The United States witnessed a major earthquake from the same fault line back in 1811 and 1812. The epicenter of the calamity is located in the city of New Madrid, Missouri.
According to the records, this earthquake managed to hammer bells of churches as far as the state of South Carolina. The event almost erased parts of the nearby regions by sinking fields to swamps. The earthquake's effects were also observed from the Mississippi River, in which the waters ran backward from their original current.
Complacent, according to Myers, is the major problem in the danger zones today. The lack of awareness and urgency of the citizens might be due to the inactivity of the fault line 100 years after the last tremor.
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Magnitude 7 Earthquake Could Occur Within 50 Years
Myers said that if the New Madrid danger zone was to move today, thousands of the population around the fault line could be affected and die. In addition, the set of bridges over the vast Mississippi river could fall, the major highways such as Interstate 55 would be disrupted, and the pipelines for fuels such as oil and gas could be fractured.
Although many people overlook the additional threat that could be inflicted by unpreparedness, there are numerous projects in the states around the danger zone that continuously develop plans in the event the feared earthquake hits.
Today, most of the preparation and risk management are directed to California. According to studies, the state, where the long-stretching San Andreas fault rests, is already 80 years overdue for the 'big one.'
The scientific community is divided by the case of the New Madrid fault, with some of the experts saying that the fault line is already dead. However, the US Geological Survey still predicts a major earthquake in the zone.
The 150-mile fault line passes through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Illinois, and Arkansas, with Missouri as its center. The last earthquake demonstrated throughout the zone scaled up to magnitude 7.7. During the time, there were discrepancies in the death toll of the regions, as the place was not yet inhabited by greater populations compared today.
The country's geological agency predicts the recurrence of the same magnitude by seven to ten percent within the next five decades.
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