Earthquake expert comes to campus
Published Oct. 17, 2006
Missouri is not as susceptible to earthquakes as California, but in 1811, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded in American history struck Southern Missouri.
The United States Geological Survey stated, "a terrifying roaring noise was created as the earthquake waves swept across the ground. Large fissures suddenly opened and swallowed large quantities of river and marsh water."
The event happened in the small town of New Madrid, which is what the Midwestern fault line was named after. The New Madrid seismic zone has been a little more active than it has been in the past couple of decades, said Steve Fernandez from Los Alamos National Lab. The 1811 earthquake was thought to have triggered other earthquakes much farther east, such as in Boston, MU research geologist Chris Sorlien said.
"Earthquakes in the middle of the continent are felt over a longer distance than in the west," he said.
Today, Fernandez will be on campus to talk about homeland security and to discuss potential consequences of a major earthquake occurring once again on the New Madrid fault line.
In the summer of 2007, the Department of Homeland Security will be doing a series of exercises based on earthquake events to see how officials can react, Fernandez said.
"Similar to what we call a 'table topic exercise,' it will get all of the officials that would be responsible for responding," Fernandez said. "We have this info, this damage, what are the conditions and how would you interact between state lines and county lines."
A table topic exercise is when many officials from various jurisdictions are at the same place, discussing a given topic or acting out a scenario. The scenario will simulate a 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
"The scenario would simulate how they rely on people, electric power, water, transportation, communications ... what might go down and how they would be restored," Fernandez said. "Computer modeling simulates what could happen to the infrastructure. Officials would respond, and at the end they would be critiqued, and hopefully it will highlight what could be done better for them to plan and respond better."
Nothing is for sure, but some research and statistics show the possibility of another large earthquake occurring in the next 50 years.
"Basically, there have been a lot of numbers in literature, some with greater credence than others, which mean a more significant chance between now and 2050 on the same scale," Fernandez said.
Less than two months ago, an earthquake shook southeastern Missouri with a magnitude of 2.5.
The discussion will take place today at 4 p.m. in E1417 Lafferre Hall.