Im guessing its much worse than being reported. Seems to me no country in the world is really prepared for what mother nature can deal us. Yes even the good old USA.
The New Madrid fault line is located in the central United States. It covers parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Arkansas. It was formed 550,000,000 years ago when North America began to split apart. It never completely split apart, but it left a break called Reelfoot Rift, which is a weak spot in the earth's crust. Much of the soil in this area is loose and wet because it is near the Mississippi River. This makes it more likely that the ground will shake violently and have a lot of movement during an earthquake. Between December of 1811 and February of 1812, there was a series of earthquakes around New Madrid, Missouri. These earthquakes caused damage over 50,000 square miles. The tremors could be felt for 1,000,000 square miles, all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. These earthquakes changed the course of some rivers and streams, and made new lakes. They also destroyed whole forests full of trees. One weird event that happened was that the Mississippi River flowed backwards. A boat called the New Orleans was sailing down the river when one of the earthquakes caused a huge wall of mud across the river. Suddenly a huge wave came up the river the wrong way and smashed into the boat. The crew lived to tell the people what had happened. The earthquakes measured from 7.6 to 7.9 on the Richter scale, which measures earthquake intensity. This is an important fault line because a large earthquake there could affect the whole United States. There are also a lot of chemical companies located near this fault today. If these buildings were damaged, it could release poisonous chemicals into the air and water supply. There is a 50% chance that an earthquake measuring 6.0 or more could occur by the end of this year and a 90% chance by the year 2040.
