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Re: Earthquake hits South

Just a li'l one, mag 4.9... though the largest earthquakes to hit the US in the last few hundred years were in the Arkansas-Missouri area:

On the basis of the large area of damage (600,000 square kilometers), the widespread area of perceptibility (5,000,000 square kilometers), and the complex physiographic changes that occurred, the Mississippi River valley earthquakes of 1811-1812 rank as some of the largest in the United States since its settlement by Europeans. The area of strong shaking associated with these shocks is two to three times larger than that of the 1964 Alaska earthquake and 10 times larger than that of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.


The first and second earthquakes occurred in Arkansas (December 16, 1811 - two shocks - Mfa 7.2, MSn 8.5 and Mfa 7.0, MSn 8.0) and the third and fourth in Missouri (January 23, 1812, Mfa 7.1, MSn 8.4; and February 7, 1812, Mfa 7.4, MSn 8.8). Otto Nuttli, however, has postulated another strong earthquake in Arkansas on December 16 at 18:00 UTC (MSn 8.0). This would make a total of five earthquakes of magnitude MSn 8.0 or higher occurring in the period December 16, 1811 through February 7, 1812.

The first earthquake caused only slight damage to man-made structures, mainly because of the sparse population in the epicentral area. The extent of the area that experienced damaging earth motion (MM intensity greater than or equal to VII) is estimated to be 600,000 square kilometers. However, shaking strong enough to alarm the general population (MM intensity greater than or equal to V) occurred over an area of 2.5 million square kilometers.


From USGS

Can you imagine what would happen these days if an 8.8 hit that area? (8.8 is almost 10,000 times stronger than 4.9)

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