At about 4:30 AM on the 18th of April 2008 I was sound asleep when the bed started shaking. I looked up to see if my husband ran into the bathroom wall or something. I called his name. He answered from the kitchen. Then there was another rumbling. I got out of bed and turned the radio on. Then my phone rang. It was too early for anyone to be calling. I answered the phone to hear my little sister scream “we had an earthquake!”
On KMOX the radio announcer said we had indeed experience an earthquake and aftershocks would follow. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported: “The quake measured a 5.2 magnitude and occurred at 4:37 a.m. CDT. It was centered in southeastern Illinois, five miles from the town of Bellmont, according to Timothy M. Kusky, director of the Center for Environmental Sciences at St. Louis University.”
Now that we’ve had two major earthquakes in the world in the first two months of this year, people are beginning to ask where the next one will be. Of course no one can predict where the next earthquake will be. Scientists are still trying to perfect a method of predicting earthquakes. But, when I looked at the US Geological Survey website I found that the New Madrid Fault is the second most active fault line in the US.
The USGS said: “the highest earthquake risk in the United States outside the West Coast is along the New Madrid Fault. Damaging tremors are not as frequent as in California, but when they occur, the destruction covers over more than 20 times the area because of underlying geology.”
The only question to ask is, when will the ground be shaking again?
I remember when this happen, my mom slept right through it but me and my sisters all woke up and ended up on the back deck outside to see what has happend!
ReplyDeleteThese earthquakes of late have freaked me out. When the New Madrid fault does give us an earthquake. It will be a big one. Hopefully we are prepared.
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