ONE YEAR LATER: QUAKE SCARE LEAVES GOOD, BAD

It's hard to believe one year has passed since the earthquake scare. The community of New Madrid will remember Tuesday's anniversary with celebrations, but the date will pass innocuously for most everyone else.

A year has soothed over most hard feelings and anxiety generated by one of the greatest non-events of the century. It focused national and even world attention on the small Southeast Missouri town of New Madrid for a single day. Even the non-believers watched the clock that day, and breathed a sign of relief when Dec. 3 ended. Disaster didn't strike, and life went on.

Upon reflection, there were some good things that grew out of the scare. But we must live with some unfortunate consequences as well.

On the positive side, the public's awareness of earthquakes and preparation rose to record levels. People learned the dangers of earthquakes, and how to prepare for them. The long-lasting effects of that knowledge will be beneficial. It's no secret we live along one of the most active faults in the world, with hundreds of minor tremors each year. One day, an earthquake will occur and the more we are prepared, the better our chances will be.

The government took heed too, and a real effort has been undertaken to require Missouri building codes to include seismic design standards. Oftentimes people die in buildings that topple around them, as opposed to falling into crevices.

On the negative side, the hype bred complacency. The message of earthquake preparedness remains valid, but fewer people are really listening anymore.

That point is well illustrated by the fact scientists detonated charges along the fault in late October, and nobody raised an objection. If that had happened a year ago, an uprising would have resulted. Today, it barely raised an eyebrow.

Another consequence was the fate of the Center for Earthquake Studies at Southeast Missouri State University. Over the past year, the center has slowly slipped into obscurity. It's a shame because the center had met a real need in educating the public.

Then Director David Stewart went out on a limb in championing past "successes" of the late Iben Browning. The quake didn't come, and both state and local funding for the earthquake center were squashed. Budget restraints were the official reason, but the controversy didn't help the center's fate. Both Stewart and co-director Michael Coe have since left the center.

But the earthquake scare was not the fault of any single person not even the late Iben Browning. A sequence of events and actions brought on the panic of Dec. 3. The most forceful was probably the 4.6 tremor on Sept. 26, 1990. For many of us, it was the first time we actually felt the earth move, and it was unnerving.

We are different today than we were one year ago when Dec. 3, 1990 loomed before us. We are wiser, and perhaps a little more cynical. But hopefully we are better prepared for the possibility that an earthquake may one day strike.