PIGGOT, ARK. Gary Howell peered around his quaint town and nonchalantly described how it would be decimated when a major earthquake erupted from the nearby New Madrid Fault. Most of the century-old brick buildings would topple. So would the police station. The emergency operations center for Clay County - housed in the courthouse - would be crushed from chunks of the concrete ceiling. And this is a place touted as a model for earthquake preparedness. "We're not ready," said Howell, the county's longtime chief executive officer. More than two decades after federal and state officials called for massive preparations for...
