NEW MADRID, Mo. — Today is the 200th anniversary of the last and the worst of the series of earthquakes that occurred near New Madrid, Mo. Many experts regard the series of four quakes as the worst in recorded history but because the region was so thinly settled, damage was much lighter than the severity of the quakes. Kansas University geologist Donald Steeples said although there were no seismographs at that time, the quakes probably ranged from 7.0 to 7.5 on the Richter Scale. However, because of the dense soil and substrata underground, quakes in the eastern U.S. are more severe than quakes in California of the same magnitude. Quakes on the West Coast may be transmitted up to 100 miles while quakes of the same magnitude will carry hundreds of miles on the East Coast, he said. The last quake rang bells in Boston and an earlier, less severe New Madrid quake knocked people out of their beds in New York City and Charleston, S.C., he said. Part of the Mississippi River ran backwards during the final quake. The New Madrid fault, which is along the Mississippi, tends to erupt in major quakes every 200 to 250 years but experts disagree whether that means there will be another big one any time soon.
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 3 p.m.
