h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As I am a native born Californian, quakes are better than an 'E' ticket at Disneyland. The best /worst was a 'quakeride' in my car while on the way to work. There I was just just sitting at a stop light when my car was suddenly airborn -- engine racing, telephone poles weaving, people in the car next to me looking around to see if anyone else noticed, and than the sudden quiet as dust rose up from the mountains.

Ask someone in Turkey if they think that earthquakes are better than E tickets.

The New Madrid earthquake of 1811-1812 was quite an event. It amazingly enough was strong enough to reach as far as New York and Canada. Fortunatly as you relate the area was sparsely inhabited at that time. Unfortunatly the area is now quite heavily populated, Memphis, TN. St. Louis, Mo., etc. There has been little to no preparedness in the areas surrounding the fault zone. If something isn't done soon, we're talking major destruction. Far worse than anything we've seen in Modern history in the United States, in terms of human loss and billions of dollars in damage. The biggest problem is the infrequency of earthquakes in the region. People who live there don't like to talk about it, especially since Iben Brownings prediction, "The earthquake that didn't happen". So they gloss it over, and the Federal govt. does nothing to encourage preparedness. (California is given millions of dollars for research, loans for updating older structures, etc.) The New Madrid fault zone, which includes at least five states, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennesee, Illinois and Arkansas, is poorly funded for seismic research.