Apr 18 2008 10:03AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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This morning Chicagoland was given a gentle shake that rattled walls, knocked books off shelves, disrupted a live broadcast and spooked my boss’ cat. The earthquake, which measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale, struck at 4:36 a.m. near the town of West Salem, IL. Admittedly I didn’t feel a thing but plenty of people who are lighter sleepers than I were scared out of their wits. Read the Tribune article here.

A few months ago I wrote about the New Madrid earthquake zone. In case you weren’t a reader then (or don’t want to click on the link) I’ll give you the skinny: in 1811-1812 a series of extremely powerful earthquakes struck near New Madrid, MO, hence the name. The New Madrid Seismic Zone (a.k.a. Reelfoot Rift or the New Madrid Fault Line) is a major seismic zone running through Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. We here in the Midwest get quakes all the time…we just never feel ‘em.

Three earthquakes of a magnitude of 7.0 or greater struck with great ferocity and left behind catastrophic damage and hundreds of aftershocks. Since 1812 frequent smaller intraplate earthquakes (earthquakes within a tectonic plate) were recorded for the area.

 I’m following up on this because, my boss, Paul Deffenbaugh, kind of scratched his head when he read my first New Madrid post, obviously wondering why I was covering earthquakes in a region that isn’t exactly prone to them. But because we haven’t designed our buildings (especially historical ones) to withstand major ground shifts, I have no doubt the Midwest would be rocked pretty hard if a major quake hit.

Don’t say we weren’t warned. But what can we do? Is there any feasible way to protect ourselves from a major quake here in the Midwest? Builders, what do you think?