February is Earthquake Awareness Month in Missouri

Earlier this month, Gov. Eric Greitens proclaimed February as Earthquake Awareness Month, in recognition of the earthquake hazard posed by the infamous New Madrid Seismic Zone. It’s an awareness that Jeff Briggs, the earthquake program manager for the state of Missouri, says is very important.

Just last year in September, several mid-Missourians felt an earthquake that originated in Oklahoma, but there are bigger threats closer to home.

Briggs told ABC 17 News that throughout the course of 2016, more than 300 earthquakes occurred along the seismic zone that were just too small to be felt.

The New Madrid Seismic Zone is most known for a series of the largest earthquakes in U.S. history that hit over 200 years ago and Briggs said it’s those earthquakes that altered the geography of the Midwest.

“It really changed the geography down there and briefly made the Mississippi River run backwards,” Briggs said. “Damage was felt for hundreds of miles in every direction.”

The extent of that damage is unlike anything you’ll ever see compared to the more famous San Andreas Fault, due in large part to the geology here in the Midwest. It’s for this reason that awareness is always needed when it comes to earthquakes.

“The shaking from a large New Madrid Seismic Zone earthquake will travel for hundreds of miles in all directions,” Briggs said. “There will be major damage not only in southeast Missouri, but St. Louis and even into other states.”

Because of the threat, the state is stressing the need to remain aware of earthquakes as the next big one could happen anytime.