Mississippi Delta earthquake: America's Haiti waiting to happen?

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | January 17, 2010 | Suzi Parker

[LucyJo]

Scientists predict a Haiti-magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid fault during the next 50 years. The fault runs under the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest parts of the US.

[LucyJo]

How effective would be retrofitting on the bridges under those circumstances?

[IYAS9YAS]

Travis, are your novels a series, or are they stand-alone books that can be read in any order? If a series, what is the order?

[vetvetdoug]

Mogudeshu on the Mississippi

LOL; living just 80 miles East of there we call it Memfrica. The area North of West Tennessee is bordered by the Ohio River, East by the Tennessee and Tennessee-Tombigbee. The entire area could be isolated easily by a quake and bridge failure. Living in this area we are aware of the limitations and possibilities...the South is the Gulf. Jackson, MS and TN would both become hell holes also.

[LaMudBug]

The greatest commercial financial loss in the New Madrid fault area will be to the FedEX operation located at Memphis which handles world wide operations from this site.

Just happened to watch a TV segment last night about the Fed Ex operation located in Memphis. It is one hell of an operation handling shipping worldwide.

I would think that the Risk Manager for Fed Ex has taken the New Madrid seismic zone into consideration and has an alternative site to operate from, when the BIG ONE does come along.

[Blood of Tyrants]

They can be read as stand alone. I read all three and while the second is somewhat the sequel to the first but easily stands alone. The third is chronologically after the others and involves one on the characters from the first.

[madamemayhem]

hey, hey, HEY! wait a minute... i live in that red zone part of Indiana. i have to worry about ice in the winter and tornados in the summer. now i have to worry about the EARTHQUAKE FROM HELL? not cool.

[FreedomPoster]

And UPS’s air hub in Louisville is similarly massive, and would also likely be affected by a big New Madrid quake.

If most of those planes are on the ground in Memphis at the time of a big quake, I don’t think an alternate site does much for FedEx.

[LucyJo]

Yes, I’ve noticed that. Thanks for posting the link.

Hopefully, Karl will settle down a bit now that Hugo has exposed his dastardly deeds.

[Centurion2000]

Another New Madrid quake of the size and location of the 1811/1812 quake will knock Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Evansville, the cities of the plain in Central Illinois, Louisville, Cincinatti, Nashville, Vicksburg, Memphis and a whole host of other places OVER!

"Gut the Midwest for 20 years" would be a little more concise but you are correct.

[hoosierham]

Well,we did experience a minor quake a year or two ago;I remember being awakened thinking it was a nightmare but the bed continued to shake.Some items were shaken off shelves,cracks appeared in the walls,etc.In the early 70s a tremor caused "eyebrows" and hillside slippages one afternoon,and there have been a couple measured but unfelt by most people here ,smaller quakes.

I think the January 2010 Massachusetts quake is more of a concern to the current White House residents.

[Zionist Conspirator]

The article fails to mention the fatal factor of a delta quake--liquefaction. The delta is basically a silt bar. Shake it and it liquefies. Everything on top of it, buildings, bridges, levies, will sink like it was water. Nothing will be left but a bunch of "survival kits" floating on the surface, and the occasional boat.

Looks like if I'm going to see Will Dockery's Plantation I'd better go pretty soon while it's still there.

[madamemayhem]

yeah i remember that one a couple of years ago. we didn’t have any damage, nothing fell, no cracks nothing. just scared the bejezus out of our son. he was definately not impressed.

[rintense]

Katrina made NO a third world country in 24 hours.

[rintense]

The history channel had a great documentary about the NM fault. IIRC, a scientist was able to tell when earthquakes hit by examining the ground, down several feet.

[rintense]

It will destroy major gas pipelines that supply the midwest and east coast.

[rintense]

Memphis has done major retrofitting of highways and bridges. Many newer buildings in Memphis have been to withstand earthquakes. Google Memphis retrofit earthquakes and you’ll see.

[beckysueb]

Actually Mississippi is not that poor. They have a huge gambling industry like Vegas. More stereotyping nonsense. The libs look at the southeast as poor and ignorant because they vote Republican. Must be discredited. Mississippi was devastated by Katrina but you would never know it because they didn’t whine. They picked themselves up and rebuilt. They didn’t get the media coverage like NOLA did. Alabama was heavily damaged, too, and recieved practically no coverage.

[beckysueb]

I live in Middle Tennessee and we had a tremor a few years back that knocked stuff off the wall, then another one last year that shook things pretty good.

[Travis McGee]

LOL; living just 80 miles East of there we call it Memfrica. The area North of West Tennessee is bordered by the Ohio River, East by the Tennessee and Tennessee-Tombigbee. The entire area could be isolated easily by a quake and bridge failure. Living in this area we are aware of the limitations and possibilities...the South is the Gulf. Jackson, MS and TN would both become hell holes also.

Most of my third novel takes place in your backyard, and the geography you mentioned is a big factor in the plotting. If you know where Shiloh is, you'll recognize the places.

[Travis McGee]

Amen to 37. Typical Yankee MSM stereotyping.