Midwest earthquake??

[Rambler]

I'm in downtown Chicago and it woke my wife and I up. Our building was making funny noises (more than usual) and it was strange to lay there and feel it happen (insert lame sex joke here).

 

[Bubbler]

TV newscast captures quake:

http://video.ap.org/v/default.aspx?mk=en-ap&g=5126e44f-f1ac-4445-aa35-2dd595b9ae5f&p=ENAPus_ENAPus&f=TXSHE&t=s201fg=tool

How ****ing nice that the AP runs ADVERTISEMENTS before their own news videos. Also nice to know that Evansville was more with it than my own city's TV newsies, who probably also thought it was a passing train or something.

Anyway, I live in a brick house in the New Madrid/Wabash Valley fault zone. They say if the New Madrid ever goes as it did in 1806, you can kiss the majority of every brick house goodbye in a 300-mile radius.

This morning, I thanked God I actually bought earthquake insurance.

 

[Ace]

When the New Madrid pops, it might mean the country gets a new great lake with millions dead and trillions of dollars in damages.
New Madrid has the potential to be a country buster.
But on a happier note, glad to hear no one died in Indiana.

Thanks for the update, Gloomy Gus.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

When the New Madrid pops, it might mean the country gets a new great lake with millions dead and trillions of dollars in damages.
New Madrid has the potential to be a country buster.
But on a happier note, glad to hear no one died in Indiana.

Thanks for the update, Gloomy Gus.

He's just repeating what the experts have long said about New Madrid. If the big one ever happens on that fault line, say goodbye to St. Louis and Memphis.

 

[Ace]

When the New Madrid pops, it might mean the country gets a new great lake with millions dead and trillions of dollars in damages.
New Madrid has the potential to be a country buster.
But on a happier note, glad to hear no one died in Indiana.

Thanks for the update, Gloomy Gus.

He's just repeating what the experts have long said about New Madrid. If the big one ever happens on that fault line, say goodbye to St. Louis and Memphis.

Thanks. Now I feel a lot better. So Cleveland will be spared?

 

[Bubbler]

So what are the chances these are a precursor to "The Big Event?"

They've being saying for years that New Madrid is overdue. When I was at Ball State, I remember some crackpot geologist actually predicted the date of the next New Madrid "big one". Got a lot of media attention, scared a lot of old people.

History Channel did one of those what if disaster shows on the New Madrid fault. Bye, bye, St. Louis, Memphis and any populated area within 300 miles of the epicenter (maybe OTR and I can room together in a tent).

Worse, there are literally city blocks full of masonary-supported housing (brick, etc.), and nearly all are presumed to be toast, with the damage strewn in city streets, thereby preventing rescue personnel from reaching homes, etc.

Among other things, because of the unstable ground in this part of the midwest, there's the threat of liquefication in the river cities, especially St. Louis. Essentially, the ground becomes too unstable to hold off the water and the water "reclaims" an area that had once been marshland. It's a big issue in St. Louis as it is presumed many of the bridge approaches to the city would be threatened by liquefication, especially on the Illinois side of the river.

The freakiest thing was the phenomena of "sand geysers".

You'd have to look it up for a technical explanation, but basically, during the 1806 New Madrid quake, the lower third of Illinois and southeast Missouri were terrorized by these geysers that would pop up out of nowhere and shoot sand, dirt, etc., hundreds of feet in the air. No one but pioneers lived in the region then, but now, it would just be another chapter of hell on earth.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

So what are the chances these are a precursor to "The Big Event?"

They've being saying for years that New Madrid is overdue. When I was at Ball State, I remember some crackpot geologist actually predicted the date of the next New Madrid "big one". Got a lot of media attention, scared a lot of old people.

That whackjob got coverage in every newspaper in the region from the Post-Dispatch to Memphis to the Little Rock papers.

And it wasn't just old people who got scared. Beale Street was a ghost town the night before it was supposed to hit.

 

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

So what are the chances these are a precursor to "The Big Event?"

They've being saying for years that New Madrid is overdue. When I was at Ball State, I remember some crackpot geologist actually predicted the date of the next New Madrid "big one". Got a lot of media attention, scared a lot of old people.

History Channel did one of those what if disaster shows on the New Madrid fault. Bye, bye, St. Louis, Memphis and any populated area within 300 miles of the epicenter (maybe OTR and I can room together in a tent).

Worse, there are literally city blocks full of masonary-supported housing (brick, etc.), and nearly all are presumed to be toast, with the damage strewn in city streets, thereby preventing rescue personnel from reaching homes, etc.

Among other things, because of the unstable ground in this part of the midwest, there's the threat of liquefication in the river cities, especially St. Louis. Essentially, the ground becomes too unstable to hold off the water and the water "reclaims" an area that had once been marshland. It's a big issue in St. Louis as it is presumed many of the bridge approaches to the city would be threatened by liquefication, especially on the Illinois side of the river.

The freakiest thing was the phenomena of "sand geysers".

You'd have to look it up for a technical explanation, but basically, during the 1806 New Madrid quake, the lower third of Illinois and southeast Missouri were terrorized by these geysers that would pop up out of nowhere and shoot sand, dirt, etc., hundreds of feet in the air. No one but pioneers lived in the region then, but now, it would just be another chapter of hell on earth.

Okay, so the scariest environment imaginable. Thanks. That's all you gotta say, scariest environment imaginable. /Owen Wilson, Armageddon

 

[Bubbler]

Earthquake insurance, baby! E-A-R-T-H-Q-U-A-K-E I-N-S-U-R-A-N-C-E! :D

 

[joe]

All my daydreams are disasters
She's the one I think I love
Rivers burn and then run backwards
For her, that's enough

They all come from New York City
And they woke me up at dawn
She walked with me to the fountain
And she held onto my arm

Come on, do what you did, roll me under New Madrid
Shake my baby and please bring her back
'Cause death won't even be still, caroms over the landfill
Buries us all in its broken back

There's a man of conviction
And although he's getting old
Mr. Browning has a prediction
And we've all been told

So come on back from New York City
Roll your trucks in at dawn
Walk with me to the fountain
And hold onto my arm

Come on, do what you did, roll me under New Madrid
Shake my baby and please bring her back
'Cause death won't even be still, caroms over the landfill
Buries us all in its broken back

-- Uncle Tupelo

 

[JBHawkEye]

So what are the chances these are a precursor to "The Big Event?"

They've being saying for years that New Madrid is overdue. When I was at Ball State, I remember some crackpot geologist actually predicted the date of the next New Madrid "big one". Got a lot of media attention, scared a lot of old people.

That whackjob got coverage in every newspaper in the region from the Post-Dispatch to Memphis to the Little Rock papers.

And it wasn't just old people who got scared. Beale Street was a ghost town the night before it was supposed to hit.

At the first paper I worked at, two days before that predicted date we sold a double-truck ad to the local utility company with all of these instructions on what to do in case of an earthquake. So, we made money on it.

I was laying out Page 1 the day of the predicted quake. My headline was, "So, where's the earthquake?" I thought later I would have really felt like **** had one hit after the paper came out.

 

[joe]

Felt nothing here in Columbia, Mo.

 

[OnTheRiver]

**** it's been a morning here in Evansville.

And that aftershock felt like the hand of god working us over.

 

[CollegeJournalist]

My parents, who live about 40 minutes south of Lexington, felt nothing. But there's damage in Louisville (about two hours away). Weird.

My mom, who lives in Louisville, said she felt it this morning. They've felt a couple aftershocks since she went into work this morning, and her office is about six or seven miles from downtown.

 

[Norman Stansfield]

There was one about 4-5 years ago in the Midwest, again late evening/early morning hours, and I remember thinking someone walked out the front door and slammed it really, really hard. Hard enough to shake the whole house for five seconds.

I didn't realize until I woke up and watched the news the next morning that it was actually an earthquake. I think it was like 5.0 or something. Just a weird sensation.

 

[markvid]

Am in the Westin in downtown Chicago, it woke me up, but I had a feeling of "did something just move?" then I said nahhhh, must have been a dream, then tried to fall asleep, but couldn't, so about 4:50, I turned on TV and saw the locals started their 5AM newscasts a little early and said, huh, I'm not nuts.

 

[OTD]

Earthquake insurance, baby! E-A-R-T-H-Q-U-A-K-E I-N-S-U-R-A-N-C-E! :D

I gave mine up a couple years ago. Ever since the Northridge quake, the quake insurance here sucks. It doesn't pay even close to rebuilding cost. You're better off not being insured and qualifying for government aid.

 

[pressboxer]

When the New Madrid pops, it might mean the country gets a new great lake with millions dead and trillions of dollars in damages.
New Madrid has the potential to be a country buster.
But on a happier note, glad to hear no one died in Indiana.

Thanks for the update, Gloomy Gus.

He's just repeating what the experts have long said about New Madrid. If the big one ever happens on that fault line, say goodbye to St. Louis and Memphis.

The big one will also cause massive changes to the course of the Mississippi, which does not mean good things downstream -- Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, etc.

 

[Diabeetus]

We're on the top floor of a three story apartment building. I wake up this morning to my bed shaking like something out of the exorcist, the canopy pounding against the wall. But, I'm out of it completely, look at my fiancee who just woke up and ask her what the hell is going on. She says, "I think our ****ing neighbors are doing it".

Then, the shaking stops, I look at her and say, "Wow, he really went hard but sure didn't last very long."

We both fall back asleep within seconds.

Three hours later, she's on her way to work when she calls to wake me up and tell me that we didn't have inconsiderate neighbors, but had in fact just nearly entirely slept through an earthquake.

Weird morning.

I appreciated your story :D

 

[rube]

It woke me up ... but I was on my way to a hangover and I just figured it was a big ass thunderbolt or something.
A thunderbolt that lasted 15 seconds and shook my bed ... like I said, I was full of alcohol.