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[Admin]

A pre-dawn earthquake shook Southern California on Tuesday, startling residents from their sleep. The magnitude-4.4 quake, centered about 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, struck shortly after 4 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage. Though the quake was considered small, it was felt over a large swath of Southern California. Online citizen reports gathered by the USGS show the temblor was felt as far west as the coast.

Los Angeles County Fire Department supervisor Andre Gougis said the agency was surveying the area, but had received no immediate reports of damage.

The quake hit not far from the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, a magnitude 5.9 quake that killed eight people and caused more than $350 million in damage.

Source

[Mystical]

What is going on with all these earthquakes?  It seems like a week can't go by that there isn't one somewhere over here...geesh I'm ready to go into hiding LOL

[Admin]

I'm just glad the quake wasn't any worse, it happened about 20 miles from where this site is hosted   They just felt a few shakes apparently. Let's hope there isn't another on the way  

[Mystical]

I've heard rumors that the quake that hit Chile recently kind of messed up a major fault line and the rumor was that a major 9.0 is predicted for the midwest.  We shall see? In fact I was just about to research if the rumors were just that??

[Mystical]

I found it!  It's just a prediction though..

When (Not If, When) Will the Big Earthquake Hit the Midwest?
by www.SixWise.com

When the next "big one" will hit is the million-dollar question among earthquake enthusiasts. But perhaps an even more appropriate question isn't when the next big one will hit, but where.

Though California is often regarded as the earthquake epicenter of the nation, there is another major fault line that most people are not aware of. It runs right through the heart of the "American breadbasket," and when it has its (next) big break, experts say the impact could be far worse than anything the West Coast has experienced in modern times.

Comparable earthquakes in the New Madrid Zone and the West Coast. Red indicates area of structural damage, yellow indicates area where shaking was felt.

The New Madrid Fault System spans a 120-mile stretch from Charleston, Missouri and Cairo, Illinois, down Interstate 55 to end up in Marked Tree, Arkansas. The massive zone crosses five state lines and cuts across the Mississippi River in three places and the Ohio River in two.

It's true that the greatest risk of earthquakes in the United States is definitely along the West Coast ... but, although the tremors may not be as frequent, when they do occur along the New Madrid Fault Line, the damage covers more than 20 times the area.

When Will the Next "Big One" Hit the Midwest?

We say the "next" big one because a major earthquake event did hit this region in the past. The Great New Madrid Earthquake of 1811-1812 describes a series of over 2,000 shocks that spanned a five-month period, destroying farmland and causing great destruction.

Although the Richter Magnitude Scale that we use to measure earthquakes today wasn't available at this time, it's estimated that five of these "shocks" measured 8.0 or higher, and it's said that 18 were strong enough to ring church bells all the way on the East Coast.

The New Madrid Fault Zone is currently active, and has more than 200 measured shocks (over 1.0 on the Richter scale) each year. The St. Charles County (Missouri) Division of Emergency Management (EMD) reports the following activity in the zone:

Article continues: http://www.sixwise.c...the-midwest.htm

[Admin]

Then there's THIS