The big one
Midwestern Americans were awakened this morning by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake and a series of aftershocks. The quake, centered near West Salem, Illinois and the Illinois/Indiana border, occured at 4:37 am central time and could be felt as far away as Michigan, Atlanta, and Des Moines, where a former radio colleague of mine was reached by an AP reporter for early morning comment.The tremor didn't arouse me from my slumber, but a call from a friend in Cedar Rapids did moments after. Staying overnight at my family's house in Coralville, IA, the family dog made nary a peep to warn of the imminent danger.
Arriving on the anniversary of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, more than 1,000 Illinois customers of Ameren Energy briefly lost power, and officials began an immediate inspection of all the bridges throughout the region. Vicki Rayborn of Bellmont, Illinois said, "The whole house started shaking and all my whatnots were falling."
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake (one in a series) occurred along the line in 1812, with reports of rattled church bells that day as far away as Philadelphia. That 19th century quake caused severe damage to many homes, including those in the highly-populated urban center of nearby St. Louis, where there was reported ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks. (The Mississippi River may or may not have actually flowed backwards for a short while.) Earthquakes similar in size to the one today were felt in the region in 1891, 1968, and in April 1987, when Tommy Herr hit a walk-off extra-inning grand slam against the Mets on Seat Cushion Night.
The U.S. Geological Survey has projected a 25 to 40 percent chance of a 6.0 magnitude quake along this New Madrid Fault Line within the next 50 years. The fault line covers parts of five states-- Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, and was formed when North America began to rift apart during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia in the Neoproterozoic Era roughly 750 million years ago, although President Bush believes the world is only about 5,000 years old and thinks children should be taught the same in public schools.
---
Another former WHO Radio colleague, Jim Zabel, fellow member of the now-defunct "Drive-Time Des Moines" team (along with Sue Danielson, Jerry Reno, and a series of fine-looking producer/technical directors), is a finalist for induction into the Radio Hall of Fame. "Z" is nominated this year in the local/regional "pioneer" category, along with long-time Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster and baseball HOF'er Harry Kalas, former KBIG/Los Angeles morning host (and an announcer on numerous television game shows) Charlie Tuna, and former WLW/Cincinnati and syndicated host Gary Burbank. (Heavy company indeed.) Nominees in the national category are St. Louisan Bob Costas, Howard Stern (He's not in already?), Dr. James Dobson's "Focus on the Family" (That tripe?), and former nude pin-up star and hypocrite Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who's really had a lot of work done.
You can vote for Jim online at www.radiohof.org, between May 1st and July 15th.
posted by CM @ 12:40 PM
1 Comments:
Our home was damaged by this quake, causing cracks in the brick the separation of our driveway from our home damage to it, stucco damage, foundation damage, drywall damage, wrinkles in our pool liner and our pool had close to 20,000 gallons of water in it at the time. We have State Farm Insurance and have had them for over thirty years. And they are trying every way they know how not to help us. Louisville KY anyone else with problems in KY please advise. Want to build up list to inform Attorney General.
Post a Comment
<< Home