The Big Ones Back Then: 1,800 Quakes In 4 1/2 Months

"It was about 2 a.m. on Dec. 16, 1811, when the first of three powerful earthquakes terrified the Indians and small number of pioneers who had settled in the Reelfoot region. About 400 residents made up the town of New Madrid in Missouri territory, across the Mississippi River from what is now known as Tiptonville. The three earthquakes are believed to be the most powerful to ever occur in the United States, and they were accompanied by hundreds of smaller quakes."

"A lot of people think there were only one or two earthquakes, but there were over 1,800 earthquakes recorded in a 4 1/2 month period between Dec. 16, 1811, and March of 1812," Douglas said. "Five of those quakes were said to range from 8 to 8.7 (in magnitude). They were enormous earthquakes, some of the largest in world history."
 
"The December quake was followed by major shocks on Jan. 23, 1812, and Feb. 7, 1812. The February earthquake centered near New Madrid, Mo., is believed to be the biggest of the three, based on newspaper accounts of damage to buildings, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quakes rang church bells 1,000 miles away in Boston, cracked sidewalks in Washington, D.C., and rattled china in the Colorado Rockies."

"Research during the past 20 years has shown "that strong earthquakes in the central Mississippi Valley are not freak events but have occurred repeatedly in the geologic past." The first recorded earthquake in what is known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone occurred on Christmas Day, 1699. Since the area was sparsely populated, it is unknown how many deaths occurred during the first big quakes."
 
"There had to be fatalities (in 1811-1812), but we don't know," said David Haggard, a park ranger the past 20 years at Reelfoot Lake State Park. "It was a time in history when they didn't keep records."
 
"Researchers know that fatalities could be overwhelming when nature unleashes another round of magnitude 7 or 8 earthquakes on the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which includes metropolitan areas like Memphis and Saint Louis. It's just a matter of time."

SOURCE - JACKSON SUN