Perhaps the most defensible statement about the NMSZ is that it is poorly understood.
While in grad school I wanted study the physics of spherical shells and whether the rheology the crust around New Madrid would allow for the storage or release of energy. There are kids’ toys where you deform a shell, set it down, and in time it will “pop” back to a more spherical shape.
Also I wanted to compare the New Madrid motion to small quakes that are observed near new dams where the crust is loaded by the weight of the impound.
What grabbed my attention about the NM 1812 event was that the ground motion rang church bells in Boston.
I live in NE Texas and the 1812 NM quake cause a rise in a fault on the TX LA border which stopped the flow of the Cypress river and formed Caddo Lake. Up until that time river boats use the river to carry goods and people into TX. It left Jefferson Tx which was a river boat commerce city without the ability to navigate the river. Now it’s a small tourist city complete with stone river boat docks.