“If a category 5 hurricane is a haymaker to the chin, then an earthquake is a suckerpunch we just can’t see coming.  While the threatening clouds of any other natural disaster gather overhead, an earthquake’s lethal force accumulates deep underground, unseen.  Above the New Madrid Fault System, an earthquake should be a major concern. 

 

It should also be the focus of readiness for an emergency response at all levels of government. 

 

If we have learned anything from the 2005 hurricane season, it is the importance of being prepared.  The worst time to practice our disaster response is during a disaster, which is why Senator Jim Talent and I have asked the Department of Homeland Security to conduct emergency response exercises in our region as soon as possible.  The difference between being ready and getting caught flat-footed might be measured in scores of lives and billions of dollars of damage.  Pictures and news coverage of the Gulf Coast have underscored this important point for Americans who live in the New Madrid Fault Zone.

 

Though we cannot say for sure when and where an earthquake will strike, we can estimate our vulnerability.  Forecasters predict that there is a 90 percent chance a major earthquake will occur along the New Madrid Fault System sometime before 2040.  The expected quake would be greater than a 6.0 on the Richter scale. 

 

For reference, four earthquakes, all greater than 7.0, hit the region during a three-month period in 1811 and 1812.  The effects of the quakes could be felt as far away as Quebec, Canada, and one of them was powerful enough to ring the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.  In 1811, there was little to disturb along the Mississippi.

 

Today, the consequences would be dire.  Millions of people now live within the area immediately affected by a potential earthquake on the New Madrid Fault System.  There are thousands of hospitals, retirement communities and schools.  The railroads and petroleum pipeline infrastructure in this area serve 40 percent of the nation.  Our interstate highways are essential corridors linking East to West and North to South.  No fewer than ten highway bridges span the Mississippi River in this region, and only one (our Bill Emerson Bridge in Cape Girardeau) is built to withstand an earthquake measuring 8.0.

 

Senator Talent and I are adamant that federal, state and local responders be prepared should an emergency occur.  It is possible that days could pass before rescue operations could reach the residents cut off from the rest of the nation by a major earthquake.  Communications for those areas would almost certainly be entirely disabled.  Roads could be impassable and access from across the Mississippi would probably be impossible.  The burden on local first responders would be enormous.  Much like the situation that unfolded in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, we want to be certain that a difficult situation is not met with an inadequate response.

 

Under this worst case scenario, Americans in Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas would see the very worst of the damage.  This request is essential for an enormous physical area in the midsection of the country.  Communications systems must be brought back online and disaster response teams must be deployed to a wide swath of land.

 

So at the same time we ask the federal government to be prepared, I am also asking our citizens to do the same.  Please take the time to work out emergency plans for your family to use in the event of an earthquake.  Select several places where you may meet, and make sure every member of your family knows emergency telephone numbers.  Stock some clean water, a radio with batteries, flashlights, and blankets in a place familiar to every member of the family.  These supplies can be essential in the event of an earthquake, but also should any other disaster strike, such as a tornado or a flash flood. 

 

Thinking ahead is vital to surviving natural disasters.  Mother Nature operates on her own schedule, regardless of what might be convenient for us.  We should be extra-vigilant in our homes atop the New Madrid Fault, because things have been too quiet here for far too long.”