200th anniversary of the New Madrid earthquakes

From the New Madrid bicentennial site:

"Several of the largest historical earthquakes to strike the continental United States occurred in the winter of 1811-1812 along the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which stretches from just west of Memphis, Tennessee into southern Illinois. These earthquakes produced at least three temblors between magnitude 7-8, and hundreds of aftershocks. 

"In 2011 and 2012, there will be events held throughout the central United States observing the 200th Anniversary of the great 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes that forever changed the mid-western landscape. These quakes were felt across the U.S. and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, and as far north as Canada. Organizations from across the United States will participate in the bicentennial events, which range from conferences, workshops, public outreach events, multi-state earthquake exercises, field trips, and more.  Organizers of the New Madrid Bicentennial events (NMB) are already planning the following activities:

Bicentennial Kickoff - February 11, 2011
Earthquake Awareness Month - February 2011
Seismological Society of America Meeting - April 2011
Great Central U.S. ShakeOut - April 28, 2011 @ 10:15a.m.
National Level Exercise (NLE2011) - May 16-20, 2011
Earthquake Awareness Month - February 2012
National Earthquake Conference - April 2012
EERI Annual Conference - April 2012
St. Jude Dream Home Partnership - April 2012"

Seismological Society of America meeting, 2011

SSA 2011
April 13-15, 2011

Memphis, Tennessee

SSA’s 2011 Annual Meeting will provide a stimulating exchange of research on a wide range of topics with colleagues from all over the world. Oral presentations, poster sessions, exhibits, field trips, business meetings and social gatherings all provide participants the opportunity to meet and share with their peers. The meeting will also commemorate the bicentennial of the the great 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes that forever changed the mid-western US landscape. In 2011 and 2012, there will be events held throughout the central United States observing the anniversary. For information on other bicentennial events please visit the New Madrid Bicentennial website.

Upcoming dates

Abstract Submission Deadline	11 January 2011
Program w/ Abstracts Online	25 February 2011
Meeting Pre-Registration Deadline	11 March 2011
Hotel Reservation Cut-Off	20 March 2011
Online Registration Cut-Off	1 April 2011

New book on Midwestern earthquake hazard

Disaster Deferred: How New Science Is Changing our View of Earthquake Hazards in the Midwest
Seth Stein

Columbia University Press

October, 2010
Cloth, 296 pages, 55 halftones, 38 line drawings, 2 tables
ISBN: 978-0-231-15138-2
$27.95 / £19.95
 
Although the government claims that parts of the Midwest face earthquake danger equal to or greater than California's, new science over the past 20 years shows that these claims are exaggerated. The series of earthquakes that struck Missouri 200 years ago were much smaller than the public has been led to believe.  There are no signs that similar large earthquakes are likely to happen in the next few hundred years. The billions of dollars needed to bring buildings in parts of the Midwest like Memphis and St. Louis up to California's earthquake resistant standards are a waste of taxpayer money and divert dollars from far worthier causes.

In the winter of 1811-12, a series of large earthquakes in the New Madrid seismic zone-often incorrectly described as the biggest ever to hit the United States-shook the Midwest. Today the federal government ranks the hazard in the Midwest as high as California's and is pressuring communities to undertake expensive preparations for disaster.

Coinciding with the two-hundredth anniversary of the New Madrid earthquakes, Disaster Deferred revisits these earthquakes, the legends that have grown around them, and the predictions of doom that have followed in their wake. Seth Stein clearly explains the techniques seismologists use to study Midwestern quakes and estimate their danger. Detailing how limited scientific knowledge, bureaucratic instincts, and the media's love of a good story have exaggerated these hazards, Stein calmly debunks the hype surrounding such predictions and encourages the formulation of more sensible, less costly policy. Powered by insider knowledge and an engaging style, Disaster Deferred shows how new geological ideas and data, including those from the Global Positioning System, are painting a very different-and much less frightening-picture of the future.

Seth Stein is Deering Professor of Geological Sciences at Northwestern.

To read an interview with the author or to find out more about this work go to:
http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15138-2/disaster-deferred/webFeatures