“ShakeOut” Takes Place on 200th Anniversary of Day Mississippi River “Ran Backwards”

The Intel Hub
By Andrew W. Griffin - Red Dirt Report
February 7, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY – The number of earthquakes hitting central Oklahoma was on the rise in late 2011 and in order to help folks here and in other states prepare for future quakes, the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut drill, taking place in states stretching from Illinois to Mississippi, and including Oklahoma, was held this morning.

The first Great Central U.S. ShakeOut took place in 2011, following prior “ShakeOuts” in California and other areas.

Interestingly, this year’s Great Central U.S. ShakeOut earthquake drill – involving 2.3 million people in nine American states in the middle of the country – took place at 10:15 a.m. on the 200^th anniversary of the day the Mississippi River ran backwards following the last of a series of powerful earthquakes to hit the New Madrid Fault in 1811-12.

The Southeast Missourian newspaper, located in Cape Girardeau, a city not far from the epicenter of that historical quake two centuries ago, reports and confirms today that the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut “coincides with the 200^th anniversary of the final earthquake in the 1811-1812 series fo quakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.”

Here in Oklahoma, just 15 minutes after the “ShakeOut” drill was concluded, KOCO.com reported “a 3.1-magnitude earthquake shook central Oklahoma …”

It was located six miles south of Paden, Okla., in an area of the state that has been plagued with numerous earthquakes in recent months, including the 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck the Sparks, Okla. area in November, an event we reported on here at Red Dirt Report.

In the Chickasha Express-Star, it noted that Grady County Emergency Management was taking the quake drill seriously because, as one official noted, “(i)t’s one of those disasters that, unfortunately, you don’t have any warning.”

And then, while working on this piece, I noticed that today’s date is highlighted in my History Channel desk calendar here at RDR headquarters as being the day when “the most violent of a series of earthquakes near Missouri caused a so-called fluvial tsunami in the Mississippi River, actually making the river run backwards for several hours,” as we noted above.

The calendar notes also that the “unusual seismic activity” began on December 16, 1811, when a strong tremor rocked the city of New Madrid, located near the Mississippi River in present-day Missouri.” A 7.7-magnitude quake would follow on January 23, 1812  and that powerful tremor would follow on this day 200 years ago.

Adds the History Channel desk calendar about that natural disaster: “(T)he Mississippi River … turned brown and whirlpools developed suddenly from the depressions created in the riverbed.”

The Washington Post also noted the fact that today was the 200th anniversary of that final and powerful quake that hit the New Madrid Fault.

Of course folks in the Washington D.C. area have fresh memories of last summer’s earthquake, centered in Virginia, that was powerful enough to crack the Washington Monument. And the Post notes that the 1812 New Madrid quake was “reportedly strong enough to awaken sleepers in Washington, D.C., including on one occasion President Madison in the White House.”

This year, 2012, is bringing all sorts of earthquakes – political, literal and otherwise. As we have been noting here at Red Dirt Report, there have been synchronistic links to 1912 with the Titanic/Costa Concordia ship disasters and South Pole expeditions and now we have our connection to 1812. Already shaping up to be a fascinating year. Hang on!

This article originally appeared on Red Dirt Report

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