Another good thing for all family members (and renters) to know what to do is how to turn off the propane or nat gas and electric, and make sure if you need tools to get those and keep them handy. Number one cause of additional injuries right off the bat in big quakes is like natural gas still leaking into buildings and downed power lines and stuff.
As an aside, running those numbers, at two meals a day that is only ten days worth of food basically for those folks (and seven million means they think a lot will die immediately or within days, so no need to feed them..) at two meals a day..way lowball if there was to be a big quake. I wouldn't rely on that to keep everyone fed, I think that is more to feed them on the way to "emergency relocation camps" or something.
A whopper New Madrid quake would be an unprecedented event in modern times in built up developed world type nations, the only thing close to it is all out general war. No hurricanes would touch it in sheer scale if it was like the last big one in the 1800s, our modern civilization is only possible because *it is mostly intact and working* all the time. Borked water and power and natgas supply and just in time delivery of food, etc..all would be effected severely, let alone bridges across the Mississippi maybe and other sorts of bridges and rail lines here and there.
The only other possible larger scale events outside of big war would be a whopper asteroid hit or yellowstone caldera going off, then that's it, stone age living for any survivors. Amish style would be "high tech".
Anyway, this is sobering stuff, here is the wikipedia entry from the last big one there
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake
380
Message Thread
« Back to index