How often do you think about earthquakes?

[porsche4life]

Umm I only think about them when you Cali boys post about them.

[NICKG]

i live in nj..if the earth quakes or there is a tsunami...and it effects me? the world is over, I am on a hill near the highest part of the state and no fault lines near me.

[DasBoot]

Some of the largest recorded earthquakes occured in the MidWest...

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/historical_mag.php

[sammyg2]

The 1811 or 1812 New Madrid Earthquake, is one of the largest succession of earthquakes, including the most intensive ever indirectly inferred (not recorded) in the contiguous United States, beginning with an initial pair of very large earthquakes on December 16th, 1811 plus aftershocks and other large related quakes separated by a succession of smaller aftershock quakes with the largest event classified as a Mega-quake of greater than 8.0 on the Richter scale occurring on February 7, 1812.

It got its name from its primary location in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, near New Madrid, Louisiana Territory (now Missouri), where a stretch of land five miles deep spanning from Arkansas to Illinois shifted and slipped. The fault is believed to generate a slip every 250-400 years.

This earthquake was preceded by three other major quakes: two on December 16, 1811, and one on January 23, 1812. These earthquakes destroyed approximately half the town of New Madrid. There were also numerous aftershocks in the area for the rest of that winter with research indicating a series of some 2,000 earthquakes overall that affected the lands of what would become eight of today's heartland states of the United States..

There are estimates that the earthquakes were felt strongly over roughly 130,000 square kilometers (50,000 square miles), and moderately across nearly 3 million square kilometers (1 million square miles). The historic 1906 San Francisco earthquake, by comparison, was felt moderately over roughly 16,000 square kilometers (6,000 square miles).

Effects
Based on the effects of these earthquakes, it can be estimated that they had a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale. As a result of the quakes, large areas sank into the earth, new lakes were formed (notably Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee), and the Mississippi River changed its course, creating numerous geographic exclaves, including Kentucky Bend, along the state boundaries defined by the river.

Some sections of the Mississippi River appeared to run backward for a short time. Sandblows were common throughout the area, and their effects can still be seen from the air in cultivated fields. Church bells were reported to ring in Boston, Massachusetts and sidewalks were reported to have been cracked and broken in Washington, D.C. There were also reports it toppled chimneys in Maine.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Mr.Puff

Pretty often ... damn California.

Yeah, huh? Because the state makes you live in it, its not like you choose in it

[Dantilla]

I only think of earthquakes when I'm feeling one. I've only felt a couple of them, and thought it was pretty cool.

[Bill Douglas]

Oh thanks Widebody911. I googled enormous cracks and got something much different

Wellington NZ is a bigtime earthquake town. I love them. Where I live was underwater until 1855 and an earth quake lifted it a few meters.

It's only the tsnumi (sp) that I don't like the idea of.

[Tobra]

When they happen, and when I am putting my earthquake kit together, checking it when I change the oil

Not as much as when I lived in the City. The last one I felt was surprisingly strong and happened when I was at Lake Tahoe.

As a person that watched him house go down at the age of 5....not too much. I put that fear behind me and will cross that path when it comes. I wont hang anything above my head though in the bedroom. Thats my only concern.
BTW, that was Santiago Chile 1972.

[Vintage Racer]

I worry about the humidity.