 The U.S. Geological Survey
said the epicenter of a magnitude 4.0 earthquake at 3:58 a.m. was
located near the town of East Prairie, Mo., roughly midway between
St. Louis and Memphis. Some people in five states -- Missouri,
Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee -- felt the quake, along
with scattered people in four others, as far away as North Carolina
and Georgia, according to responses to the U.S. Geological Survey
website.
Only minor damage was reported, such as items falling from
shelves, broken windows, and minor cracks in walls and sidewalks,
said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist for the Geological Survey office in
Golden, Colo. No injuries were reported.
East Prairie City Administrator Lonnie Thurmond said the quake
lasted perhaps seven seconds.
"It seemed like everybody I've talked to, it woke 'em up,"
Thurmond said.
The earthquakes on Dec. 16, 1811, and Jan. 23 and Feb. 7, 1812,
were among the strongest ever in the U.S., with their magnitudes
estimated to have ranged from 7.7 to 8.1. Shock waves spread as far
as New York, and the force of the temblors reportedly rang church
bells in Boston. The Mississippi River reversed flow for a time.
Those quakes, like the one on Tuesday, occurred in the New Madrid
Seismic Zone, a 150-mile stretch between Memphis and St. Louis that
crosses parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and
Tennessee.
Most of the earthquakes that frequently hit the zone are so small
that virtually no one feels them. Even a magnitude 4.0 quake is
rare, occurring in the New Madrid zone on average about once a year,
said Bob Herrmann, a Saint Louis University geophysicist.
"It's been a while since we had a good shaker in the New Madrid
region," Herrmann said. "It is a reminder that earthquakes occur and
we cannot ignore them."
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Expert opinion varies on the likelihood of another big Midwestern
quake along the New Madrid fault, though many communities in the
region have taken precautions by retrofitting bridges and other
structures.
Earthquake drills are also becoming more common. On Feb. 7, more
than 2.4 million people across nine states participated in a drill
known as the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, according to the website
http://www.shakeout.org/centralus/.
Experts suggest that the likelihood of a magnitude 6 or greater
quake occurring along the New Madrid fault within a half century is
somewhere between 28 percent and 46 percent.
"Unfortunately, we cannot predict earthquakes," Herrmann said.
"We can look at historical trends and say one should exercise some
caution and prudence."
[Associated Press]
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