When the Next Big Earthquake Happens
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The U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program Earthquake
Notification Service (ENS) is a customizable system provided free to everyone.
You can receive earthquake notifications for any earthquakes located by the
ANSS/NEIC (Advanced National Seismic System/National Earthquake Information
Center) in the U.S. and around the World. Information for earthquakes in the
U.S. is generally available within 5 minutes; information for earthquakes
elsewhere in the World is generally available within 30 minutes.
Customizable Options:
- Functional in English and Spanish
- Specify your local time zone
- Specify affiliation
- Aftershock exclusion option
- Update Notifications option
- Defer Notifications option
- Add and remove multiple email addresses (up to 15)
- Define multiple notification profiles
- Activate/Deactivate each profile individually
- Set notification magnitude thresholds for night and day hours
- Receive emails in 3 formats: long, short (for pagers and cell phones), and raw CUBE format messages
- Create a notification profile region from a list of predefined regions
- Create a rectangular profile region from four specified lat/lon points
- Specify a circular profile region from a center point and radius, or pick it on a map
- Make a custom polygon profile region by picking points on a map, or uploading XML
- Remove profiles
- Manage/Delete account
Signup:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/ens/
Details:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/ens/help.html
For further information, try these links:
CUSEC - Central United States Earthquake Consortium
http://www.cusec.org/
Description of past and potential future damage from a large New Madrid earthquake
http://www.cusec.org/S_zones/NMSZ/nmsz_home.htm
Comparison of similar-magnitude earthquakes in San Francisco and New Madrid
http://www.cusec.org/S_zones/NMSZ/Areas.htm

You can see that an 8.6 earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone is likely to level St. Louis & Memphis -- along with mass destruction in Little Rock, Springfield, Paducah, and other towns and cities.
-- Patrick B