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Quake in Midwest could cause massive disaster in major urban areas
@Spirit Daily
A significant quake along a huge fault in America's heartland could cause major disasters far from the epicenter, an inquiry by Spirit Daily has shown. Officials in Missouri acknowledge that tremors along the Mississippi and up through a dormant seismic belt to Illinois could rupture trans-continental crucial rail and natural gas lines -- shutting off supplies to major northern cities like Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, and New York. The disruption in heat would be catastrophic if it came in the midst of winter coldness.
While the focus of fears is on the West Coast -- where indeed the "big one" is most likely to occur -- some of the most powerful quakes in American history hit the country's mainland near New Madrid, Missouri -- so powerful that at one juncture the Mississippi flowed backwards. According to Dr. Arch Johnston of Memphis State University that happened on February 7, 1812, just north of Reelfoot Lake, where a thrust of subterranean rock caused a large wave to "retroflow."
It was one of many startling effects in the early 1800s as dozens of tremors, several in the magnitude-7 range (and some claim even magnitude-8 -- far more powerful than what just hit Seattle) rumbled across the nation's midsection at the same time that comets were seen and Indians prophesied doom. Along the river, dust, fog, and vapor filled the air with a smell that was described as like sulfur. Crevices opened and sucked the river into whirlpools. On land chunks of coal flew from caverns. The earth split with electrical force, emitting flashes of lightning. There was so much dust that the moon was swathed with gloom.
Though originating near Missouri, the tremors -- reaching a magnitude of at least 7.5 -- had been so powerful they rattled dishes in Washington, D.C. and rang church bells in Boston.
This isn't to say that Missouri should be the focus of concern. This is not to say that it ranks with the big three: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. But along with Salt Lake City and Charleston, South Carolina, it's the next major concern, and the ground in this part of the nation transmits vibrations over a far greater distance. A repeat of the 1811-1812 tremors would cause in the neighborhood of $200 billion, according to Dr. Dan Abrahams, a civil engineer in the region.
Highways, waterways, and even airways would be disrupted -- with special damage in cities like Memphis, Evansville, and St. Louis. Pipelines that cross right near the fault from Texas to areas in the North and East Coast could be destroyed -- with no agency of government capable of housing those millions who might be without heat, if indeed it was frigid weather.
"[Sandy ground] would liquefy like quicksand," says Abrahams, leading to spectacular structural damage.
That would be in line with prophecies that claim we're approaching a breaking down of modern living and a return to simpler conditions as God purifies.
We can only pray and fast and implore God to purify without great loss of life. With fasting and prayer, says Medjugorje, we can suspend natural laws. We can prevent such disasters. Zones where quakes could occur run from Evansville and southern Illinois to the St. Francis River in Arkansas.
One study indicated a 50 percent chance of a quake over magnitude-6 occurring by the year 2000 (which of course did not happen) and a 90 percent chance of such an occurrence by 2040.
What about magnitude-7 -- a quake as powerful as the event in 1811?
According to the study, tremors like that only come every 200 to 300 years. One estimate gives just a four percent chance of a mammoth quake on that particular fault in the next fifty years.
"But you don't know," says Dr. Abrahams. "You could have it tomorrow."