EMERGENCY COORDINATOR HERE KEEPS TABS ON QUAKE

JACKSON -- Southern California is far away from Southeast Missouri, yet Brian Miller is keeping tabs on the powerful earthquake that struck there earlier this week.

"What's happening there is something that could happen here," said Millers, coordinator of emergency preparedness in Cape Girardeau County. "The crumbling of buildings, highway collapses, explosions and fires are all a very accurate representation of what we could experience."

The reason for earthquake concern here is the New Madrid Fault, an earthquake zone that zigzags for more than 100 miles from northeastern Arkansas through the Missouri Bootheel and into the southern tip of Illinois.

The New Madrid Fault is best-known for producing some of the largest earthquakes in U.S. history. At least three of those quakes in 1811-12 are believed to have measured above 8.0 on the Richter scale.

The chances of another quake measuring 8 on the Richter scale might be slim, but earthquake experts say there's a 50-50 chance of a New Madrid quake measuring 6.0 over the next 15 years.

Monday's quake in California measured 6.6.

A New Madrid quake of similar magnitude could cause severe damage here, and in the metropolitan areas of St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn.

"This is not something I live in fear of happening," said Miller. "But, it's something that I respect."

Miller said he cringes at the thought of an earthquake the magnitude of the California quake here, particularly this time of year.

"With the sub-zero temperatures, it's difficult to imagine people having to spend time outside," he said. "Hundreds in California are without homes, power or water."

The latest California quake, in the San Fernando Valley 20 miles south of Los Angeles, was felt from San Diego, 125 miles away, to Las Vegas, more than 200 miles away."

Is Southeast Missouri ready for a powerful earthquake?

"We're in better shape than we have been," said Miller. "But, no, we are not ready for a quake of that magnitude. Nobody is.

"They've been preparing for this type of quake for years in the California area," he added. "Many buildings have been constructed with quakes in mind. You can see what happened."

Cape Girardeau County has a local emergency operations plan for all types of disasters, Miller said.

"It's a functional plan and tells us who has what responsibilities and who has what authority," he said. "It also includes a resource list of where we find people. It's a good operations system and it's in place."

Miller said it's a good idea for residents also to have an emergency kit on hand.

"Not only because we're sitting on an earthquake fault," he said. "What if we had a major ice storm, or a tornado that wipes out power two or three days?"

St. Louis engineers also are monitoring the quake in California. They say a similar quake would be devastating in St. Louis, where many bridges and pipelines are prone to severe quake damage.

"Generally a lot of the St. Louis area is in bad shape for an event like the one in California," said John Miller, an earthquake engineer with EQE International Inc. of St. Louis.

He told the Associated Press that "A lot of our bridges, utilities and other sorts of things are really not designed for that kind of shaking."

"This should very definitely be a warning," added John Theiss, president of Theiss Engineers Inc. in St. Louis.

Theiss told the AP that he was shocked to see the television accounts of the destruction of roads and bridges in the California quake, particularly since that region adopted tougher building codes after previous quakes.

"We've got a much longer way to go," he said. "I don't see anything being done locally to safeguard against gas breaks and the fires that would ensue with a similar quake here."