(End of the American Dream)—Are you ready for the day when the largest earthquake in U.S. history rips through the center of the country like a lightning bolt? Last year, hundreds of little earthquakes rattled the New Madrid Seismic Zone, and it is just a matter of time before catastrophe strikes.
In 1811 and 1812, the three largest earthquakes in the entire history of the continental United States opened up gigantic fissures in the ground and they were keenly felt as far away as Washington D.C., New York City and Boston. The next time such an earthquake occurs, it will cause incalculable damage. Unfortunately, such a quake could be coming a whole lot sooner than most people think.
When we talk about “the Big One”, we tend to focus on the San Andreas Fault in southern California, and there is a good reason for that. Someday an absolutely enormous earthquake will permanently alter the geography of the California coast. But most people do not realize that the New Madrid Seismic Zone has the potential to create even larger earthquakes, and major cities such as Chicago, Memphis, St. Louis, Little Rock and New Orleans are potentially in great danger…
While not as well known for earthquakes as California or Alaska, the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), located in southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Illinois, is the most active seismic area in the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains. The area includes major cities such as Memphis, Tennessee, St. Louis, Missouri, Little Rock, Arkansas and Evansville, Indiana. Every year hundreds of small earthquakes occur in the NMSZ, however, most are too small to be felt by humans and can only be detected by sensitive instruments.
Thankfully, there has not been a catastrophic earthquake in that region for quite a while.
But little quakes do happen all the time. When I asked Google AI about this, I was told the following…
In 2024, there were over 300 measurable earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. This area in southeastern Missouri has a history of frequent minor earthquakes, and the potential for larger earthquakes in the future.
Each time there is another little quake, it is a reminder that the clock is ticking.
In 1811 and 1812, the most powerful earthquakes in the history of the continental United States occurred in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. We are told that no other earthquakes in the known history of the world “have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes”…
The New Madrid earthquakes were the biggest earthquakes in American history. They occurred in the central Mississippi Valley, but were felt as far away as New York City, Boston, Montreal, and Washington D.C. President James Madison and his wife Dolly felt them in the White House. Church bells rang in Boston. From December 16, 1811 through March of 1812 there were over 2,000 earthquakes in the central Midwest, and between 6,000-10,000 earthquakes in the Bootheel of Missouri where New Madrid is located near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the immense damage that these earthquakes caused.
According to the USGS, at one point the ground shifted so violently that it “temporarily forced the Mississippi River to flow backwards”…
In the New Madrid region, the earthquakes dramatically affected the landscape. They caused bank failures along the Mississippi River, landslides along Chickasaw Bluffs in Kentucky and Tennessee, and uplift and subsidence of large tracts of land in the Mississippi River floodplain. One such uplift related to faulting near New Madrid, Missouri, temporarily forced the Mississippi River to flow backwards. In addition, the earthquakes liquefied subsurface sediment over a large area and at great distances resulting in ground fissuring and violent venting of water and sediment. One account of this phenomena stated that the Pemiscot Bayou “blew up for a distance of nearly fifty miles.”
We have never seen anything like this in our time.
But eventually we will.
The quakes of 1811 and 1812 also created giant crevices in the ground that “ran from north to south” and that were up to five miles long…
As the general area experienced more than 2,000 earthquakes in five months, people discovered that most of crevices opening up during an earthquake ran from north to south, and when the earth began moving, they would chop down trees in an east- west direction and hold on using the tree as a bridge. There were “missing people” who were most likely swallowed up by the earth. Some earthquake fissures were as long as five miles.
Someday it will happen again.
But I believe that next time it will be far, far worse.
If you visit the town of New Madrid today, you will find that they are very aware of why they have become so famous…
The town of New Madrid seems obsessed with the fault lines that loom under its surface.
Signs with the slogan “It’s Our Fault” line the road into town, past the cotton fields and defunct factories that were once reliable employers.
The local businesses, the ones that still exist, aren’t shy about referencing earthquakes in their branding.
The town’s principal attraction is the museum that details the history of the 1811 earthquakes that made the bordering Mississippi River run backwards.
Sadly, the next time a major quake strikes the region, most of those people stand to lose everything.
Back in the year 2000, 60.2 percent of all residences in that area had earthquake insurance.
Today, just 11.4 percent of all residences in that area have earthquake insurance.
Just like we have seen in California, insurance companies realize what is eventually going to happen and they are protecting themselves.
When disaster finally strikes, the death and destruction that we could potentially witness could be off the charts…
A 1991 Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and FEMA report estimates damages from a 7.6 magnitude NMSZ earthquake to the Bootheel counties of Mississippi, New Madrid and Pemiscot would be 0.2-2% of their population killed, 1-10% of their population seriously injured, 10% of their buildings collapsed and 30% of their buildings receiving severe structural damage. For Scott, Stoddard and Dunklin counties the percentage estimates are 0.1-1% killed, 0.5-5% seriously injured, 5% of structures collapsed and 20% with severe structural damage. For Butler, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry, St. Louis (including the city), Lincoln, Pike, Marion and Lewis Counties the estimates are 0.02- 0.2% killed, 0.1-1% seriously injured, 1% building collapses and 10% with severe structural damage.
A 2004 HAZUS report prepared by FEMA, based on a 7.7 earthquake occurring in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, estimates earthquake damages to be $296 billion dollars across the region and nearly 730,000 people displaced from their homes. In Missouri, the report estimates a direct economic loss of $69 billion dollars and nearly 87,000 damaged buildings.
Please keep in mind that those projections are for an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 or 7.7.
Many of us are expecting an earthquake that is far, far larger to eventually hit the region.
In recent months, a couple of major drills have been held in the New Madrid Seismic Zone as local officials attempt to prepare the population for what is inevitably coming…
On Thursday, Oct. 17, thousands of people participated in an earthquake preparedness exercise called “the Great ShakeOut ” and practiced survival skills. There’s only so much officials can do to prepare—because they know we can’t prevent earthquakes, all we can do is be ready.
This summer, officials held preparation drills across Missouri. Emergency responders practiced when buildings might collapse and how to save as many people as possible.
Firefighters and first responders held a drill at Chesterfield Mall in the St. Louis area in July, where they simulated search and rescue missions. The three-day drill scenario simulated an 8.4 magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Fault and involved 500 people, including local emergency responders, military responders, hospitals, and volunteers.
I think that those drills are great.
But the truth is that nothing can really prepare people for the real thing.
The USGS says that in addition to 1811 and 1812, the region was also hit by huge quakes “in approximately 900 and 1450 AD”…
Paleoseismic (geologic) studies conducted over the last 20 years have shown that sequences of earthquakes of comparable size to that in 1811-1812 have occurred at least twice before, in approximately 900 and 1450 AD.
We live at a time when our planet is becoming increasingly unstable, and scientists openly acknowledge that there is nothing they can do to prevent the next great New Madrid earthquake.
Unfortunately, this time around the entire region is littered with nuclear power plants.
In fact, there are 11 nuclear reactors in the state of Illinois alone…
Illinois generates more electricity from nuclear energy than any other state, accounting for one-eighth of the nation’s total nuclear power generation. In 2023, the state’s 6 nuclear power plants, with 11 total reactors, produced 54% of the state’s electricity net generation.
Do you remember the Fukushima nuclear disaster?
Well, when the next great New Madrid earthquake finally arrives we could have a whole bunch of nuclear reactors melting down simultaneously.
There is a very deep geological scar directly under the New Madrid Seismic Zone. In my books I have described what will happen when that deep geological scar blows wide open. The North American continent will literally be ripped in half, and life in this country will never be the same again.
It won’t happen tomorrow, but such a disaster is inevitably going to happen.
When that day finally arrives, nobody will be able to say that there were no warnings.
Michael’s new blockbuster entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
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Starting the Day With a Scripture-Inspired Roast Helps Center Your Thoughts on Eternal Truths Amid Temporal Pressures
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