In New Madrid Bicentennial Year; Being Ready is a Priority

FEMA Region 6 Offers Earthquake Preparedness Tips

In New Madrid Bicentennial Year; Being Ready is a Priority

Release Date: March 9, 2011
Release Number: R6-11-044

» 2011 Region VI News Releases

DENTON, Texas -- This year marks the 200th anniversary of the 1811 New Madrid earthquakes. In this bicentennial year, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 6 is encouraging residents to be prepared.

The history of earthquakes in northeastern Arkansas and the surrounding region that covers the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) is significant. On Dec. 16, 1811, a magnitude-7+ earthquake struck what is now Memphis, Tenn. It was the first in a series of quakes that caused strong shaking over a broad region and resulted in widespread eruptions of water and sand, triggered landslides, and lifted up and dropped down large areas by the time the final quake occurred on Feb. 7, 1812 in New Madrid, Mo. Since then, the regions along the NMSZ have experienced explosive growth in both population and infrastructure. Another series of earthquakes with the magnitude of the 1811 earthquakes could prove catastrophic to the region.

To help ensure that residents are prepared, FEMA Region 6 encourages the following:
Get a Kit – Get an Emergency Supply Kit, which includes items such as non-perishable food, water, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra flashlights and batteries. You may want to also prepare a portable kit and keep it in your car.
Make a Plan – Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together, and what you will do in case of emergency.
Prepare Your Business – The FEMA/Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) QuakeSmart Web site provides tips for how mitigation can reduce business risks.
Help Your Community Prepare – Inquire about emergency plans at places where your family spends time: work, daycare, and school. If no plans exist, consider volunteering to help create one.
Sharpen Your Skills – Take a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class from your local Citizen Corps charter. Keep your training current.
Plan for Cover – Identify safe places indoors and outdoors where you could take cover, such as under sturdy furniture or against an inside wall without any glass that could shatter or heavy bookcases that could fall over.

FEMA Region 6 is also working with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) to plan several events over the New Madrid Bicentennial Year that will highlight earthquake preparedness. These include the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, an earthquake drill that will occur across the NMSZ on April 28, and National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE 11), a White House-driven, congressionally mandated exercise that will simulate the catastrophic nature of a major earthquake in the NMSZ. Thousands of government officials at the federal, state, local and tribal levels, members of the private sector, and the general public will participate in the May 16–19 NLE 11 functional exercise.

For more information on the ShakeOut, please visit www.shakeout.org/centralus. For the latest news and developments on NLE 11, visit http://www.ready.gov/nle2011

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards