Seismology director says ‘catastrophic’ 7.0 is likely in Arkansas over the next 50 years | News

While hurricanes have been a concern in White County and the rest of the state this week, Hilda Booth, director of the Arkansas Emergency Department’s earthquake program, says residents should also prepare for earthquakes, including the potential for disaster in the next 50 years.

At an earthquake awareness meeting in Bald Knob, Booth said she’s been touring the state, mostly in the Northeast, telling residents that Arkansas not only suffers earthquakes but that there are ways to better prepare their families, schools and communities.

“It happened without notice,” Booth said. “You don’t know where that’s going to happen and all you can do is prepare yourself and your family to respond to it and recover quickly from it, because the idea is to have more resilient communities and be small towns in rural Arkansas, the entire eastern part of our state, the population is very low.”

She said in 1811-12, Arkansas experienced three of the largest earthquakes that occurred in the United States. Although this seems a long time ago, she said, “This is substantial because the earthquake zone in New Madrid is still a very active seismic zone and we still have earthquakes almost every day in these communities here in northeastern Arkansas.”

She said most earthquakes are “too small to feel,” but around 1975 there were 5.0 in Poinsett County, “and that was big enough to black out the power in Jonesboro. It broke windows in Walton Ridge and Bargold.”

Booth explained that earthquakes are “steadily growing” in size. “So 5.0 is 100 times more powerful than 4.0 and 6.0 will be 1,000 times greater than 5.0. So the difference is huge.”

According to Booth, the earthquakes of 1811-12 were thought to have been 7.0-8.0. At that level, she said, these were “enormous catastrophic earthquakes. Then they had thousands of aftershocks afterwards.”

She said the New Madrid area covers eight states, so “opportunities for help and CNN are going to Mississippi County to help us or Poinsett County … There’s really, really little chance because there are millions of people in St. Louis and there are millions of people in Memphis that will be affected and we’re a small town.” So we really have to take care of ourselves and each other.”

She said the Arkansas Department of Emergency is “called for help when the county is overwhelmed.” “They will ask in their mutual assistance agreements to the other counties, the surrounding counties, but when things get really tough, they’ll call ADEM and a declaration of emergency will be issued and we’ll start sending out help.”

Booth realistically said “If we don’t have our cell phones, if our towers are down, if our bridges are low, our lanes are down — those are the things that are very likely to happen with a 6.0 earthquake — you won’t make your phone readily available. You might not. You have up to two weeks. That’s what we’re trying to tell people for two weeks.”

Booth encourages making a family plan. With children at school and parents at home or in the workplace, she said, the question is, “How are you going to meet?” and “How are you going to talk, especially if you don’t have cell phones?”

In a two-week ready-made package distributed at the meeting, it was written that residents should “plan to be on their own for at least two weeks”. There’s a place to jot down prescription names, and the building kits section lists things people should be ready for. The menu includes 1 gallon of water per person per day, non-perishable food, rest/entertainment, medical equipment, glasses/eye care needs, first aid kit, can opener, battery operated radio, and sturdy shoes.

The making plans section talks about defining an “easy-to-reach meeting place in case you have to leave home or work, so you can reunite with your family.” The next thing to do is find out about disaster plans for business, children’s schools, medical and/or transportation providers and other places where the family spends time.

Emergency contact numbers should be noted, as text messages are more likely to pass through during an earthquake. It is also recommended to have an extra cell phone charger and batteries such as having an “out-of-area contact that can act as a relay point for family communication”.

The Helping Each Other section explains that it is important to know who you will help and which pets usually depend on you.

Other items in the package include places to jot down your insurance information and doctor’s name and contact, public safety locations, community gathering points, alternate routes to work, car sharing options, applicable public transportation options, immediate family members, out-of-area contacts and information about animals pets and whether they are taking any medications.

Booth said the family emergency kit varies depending on individual needs. For example, those who wear glasses should have an extra pair in their collection.

She said there’s also an instruction booklet for kids called “No Warning!” It looks like a comic book but makes it so that kids can understand the things to do when an earthquake strikes.

Booth said eastern Arkansas now has mandates that schools have earthquake training in addition to hurricane drills. She said residents can sign up for Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill to practice how to stay safe during an earthquake by going to www.shakeout.org.

The motto, Booth said, is “Down, cover and hold.” The October event will be part of the Great Central US ShakeOut.

Bald Knob Mayor Barth Grayson said the city “hopes to partner with the school district to host a larger earthquake awareness event. The date will be announced soon. Everyone needs to know more about our district’s history with the New Madrid earthquake. When it happens again, it is expected to cause damage.” gross.”

Booth said, “We have a 7-10 percent chance over the next 50 years of a 7.0 or larger earthquake that would be a massive catastrophic earthquake, but a 25-40 percent chance of a 6.0 or 6.5 earthquake.”

A 6.3 earthquake in 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand, was reported to have killed 185 people. “They just lost half of downtown, all of their sewage systems and their economy, and they still haven’t come back,” Booth said. “Only about 50 percent of their buildings are now back because they were so destroyed.”

The reason it’s destructive, she said, “was from liquefaction. That’s when the ground starts shaking and causes the water level to drop — which is very low in northeastern Arkansas, and in eastern Arkansas, we’re immersed all the time — things will appear underground, so the graves and gas tanks and things from Like this, it causes things on the surface of the earth to sink.”

The vehicles in the parking lots are sinking as in quicksand, Booth said, “which is from the shaking of the earth.”

She said she spends a lot of time in hardware stores, and handed over 10-packs of water heater belts used to hook up water heaters in the event of an earthquake. She said the water heaters hold 30 to 40 gallons of drinking water that can be used to support a family after an earthquake if the water supply is lost, which is very likely if the facilities fail.

It’s hard to get people to talk about earthquakes, Booth said, because they are “unremarkable events.” But even when they’re on vacation, an earthquake can happen, so being prepared is a good thing.

The earthquakes start quickly and last only 30 to 40 seconds, she said, and most injuries are caused by falling objects such as ceiling tiles and lighting fixtures. However, people should not run outside, but should fall, cover and cling. “It’s short and cute.”

In addition to falling objects, most people visit the hospital after an earthquake with cuts to their feet “because they’re jumping out of bed, it’s the middle of the night, it’s dark, and things just fell off their shelves and crashed,” she said. “Now they’re trampling on broken glass and it’s going to be hard to help your family and clean up if you have cuts all over the bottom of your feet.”

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