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Blogs by Sam Penny
Shouting in the Wind 2/11/2005 4:01:38 PM
Once again the southern extension of the New Madrid Fault has been fractured with a warning sign. Did anyone hear?
Thursday morning, February 10, at 8:04am a crack the size of a 160 acre farm ripped through the basement rock 10 miles beneath the Buffalo Creek Ditch, three miles north-northwest of Etowah, Arkansas. The earthquake from the 4.1 magnitude temblor was felt up in Cairo, Illinois and down in Tunica, Mississippi. It was enough to get anyone sleeping late to sit up and wonder, "What next?"
A year ago I started on a book tour and a mission to tell the people of the central United States of the time-bomb ticking beneath their homes and businesses, a calamity that had the potential to destroy 10% of the US GDP.
I have met many wonderful people in my journey and talked of the need to plan and prepare, if only to lessen the ultimate death and destruction. I have found others working to get the message out or trying to find funding to do necessary research in seismology, construction, planning, and mitigation.
A few of us have discussed how we can make the public and the local politicians more aware that what they do now will determine how bad it is then.
After a year, I am still concerned and do not see that much has been accomplished. I have come away with a feeling that I have been "shouting in the wind." A few have heard me, but I see little evidence that our society or local governments consider this issue important enough to give it significant notice.
I am not whining, nor am I giving up, just expressing my disappointment.
And then again, maybe people will get the message from Mother Nature's latest warning from beneath Buffalo Creek. After all, it is only a matter of time before she makes another major adjustment.
