23 quakes strike central Arkansas in 36 hours

[DetroitDad]

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/18...?iref=obinsite

Almost two dozen earthquakes of magnitude 2.3 or greater have struck the region since midnight Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reports.

The largest of the temblors, at 4.3 magnitude, hit at 2:13 a.m. Friday. It followed a 4.0-magnitude event at 11 p.m. Thursday.

No damage has been reported from any of the quakes, all centered near the town of Greenbrier in Faulkner County, CNN affiliate KARK reports. Residents reported hearing a boom at the time of Friday morning's quake, KARK reported.

The earthquake swarm is reminiscent of a swarm that hit the area last fall. More than 500 were recorded in less than a month.

[Danny]

Yes, The Earth is starting to cough, sneeze and vomit some hot stuff. The end of Ka'tun is coming next year.

[Jimaz]

That's only about 185 miles from New Madrid.

FWIW, that article is dated Feb 18th.

[Bigb23]

Privatize earthquake preparedness ?

Just a scenario.

Due to Government insolvency, Congressional Republicans/Democrats, turn earthquake preparedness over to the private sector. The lowest bidder, [[who happens to be a huge campaign donor/lobbyist), immediately lays off most of the American workers to stay globally competitive. FEMA is dissolved to create that much beloved smaller government.
With a sudden lack of citizen/workers, H1B visas are issued for low wage foreign workers via Halliburton's offshore Bahrain headquarters.
Peruvian flagged cargo ships from Yemen with personnel and material from all over the mid-east and Eastern Europe are dispatched immediately to the docks of Los Angeles with the intent of aiding beleaguered government offices with new computer software and Central American transportation companies.
Whoops, the 10 million dollar price tag has now inflated to 750 million dollars. We are too far into this to reevaluate this project now.
Let's have a Congressional hearing to blame the other party for this fiasco. Untold taxpayer dollars and manpower will spend months behind closed doors, to finally issue a statement, that will say that this was a bad idea to begin with. Again, thank you Congress.

Now, what happened to all those missing workers and containers off the ship ?

The new world economy.

And is that semi-truck load of ice for the Hurricane Katrina victims still on the road ?

[maxx]

This is too true. Republicans are talking of cutting tsunami warning systems. After all tsunamis are only a theory and we mustn't lose focus of the real dangers to our society, Head Start kids and janitors and math teachers from WI. [Bill Maher paraphrase\]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social..._80415845.html

[Gistok]

On a scale of 1 to 1000 the China and Arkansas quakes are a 1 and Japan is 1000.... just to put it into perspective.

But Jimaz.... you did mention a worrisome statistic... that the earthquakes are not far from New Madrid... site of the worst earthquake in the continental USA back in 1811. Fortunately the Mississippi valley was sparsely populated back in 1811... but when a quake changes the direction [[for a short while) and the course of the Mississippi River... AND.... church bells were ringing from the tremors as far away as New England.... that New Madrid fault is the biggest worry this side of the Rockies....

[Jimaz]

Yeah, here's the New Madrid Wikipedia article.

It's reassuring to see nothing about Michigan in this list:

Earthquakes that occur in the New Madrid Seismic Zone potentially threaten parts of seven American states: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.

[["You must have very good eyesight to see nothing—and at that distance too!" --from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through The Looking Glass, I forget which.)

[jiminnm]

On a scale of 1 to 1000 the China and Arkansas quakes are a 1 and Japan is 1000.... just to put it into perspective.

But Jimaz.... you did mention a worrisome statistic... that the earthquakes are not far from New Madrid... site of the worst earthquake in the continental USA back in 1811. Fortunately the Mississippi valley was sparsely populated back in 1811... but when a quake changes the direction [[for a short while) and the course of the Mississippi River... AND.... church bells were ringing from the tremors as far away as New England.... that New Madrid fault is the biggest worry this side of the Rockies....

I have relatives that live in NW Tennessee, about 50 miles from Madrid and others in Little Rock. We were in TN for the 4.3 quake [[which was centered about 40 miles north of Little Rock), and never felt a thing.

You are right about the 1811 quake, it was very serious and may have been larger than anything we've seen in the US in our lifetimes [[including all the California quakes) or even since. It also changed state boundaries. There's now a piece of Kentucky that can only be reached from Tennessee. There are a number of little pieces of Kentucky and Tennessee that now lie west of the Mississippi [[which was once the border), and maybe a piece of Arkansas that now lies east of the Mississippi. Reelfoot Lake, in NW Tennessee, did not exist prior to that quake.

The little historical museum in Madrid has quite a bit of info on the quakes and faults [[there are actually two faults that cross near Madrid).