Southeast Missouri State University and the Missouri Research Corporation (MRC) teamed with University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) for research and emergency planning for the next big earthquake on the New Madrid fault. The team gathered 25 individuals on May 17, 2006, to discuss what we know and how we should prepare for an earthquake that is per some experts 90 percent likely to happen sometime between now and 2056.
According to the Natural Hazards Mitigation Institute at Rolla, the likely quake to impact St. Louis and Southeast Missouri will be “something similar to the magnitude 6.6 Charleston, Mo. quake of 1895, which has a recurrence frequency of 70 +/- 15 years (overdue since 1980).” Dr. Gregory Hempen, a retired engineer with the Corps of Engineers and a presenter at the forum, said that instead of expecting one big quake, we should probably expect “a foreshock with one or more main events within days to months.”
Hurricane Katrina, as devastating as it was, at least reminds us that failing to plan is dangerous and deadly. One presenter at the forum, Retired General John Havens asked “will a group of people sit in a room a few years from now and look at southeast Missouri as a bad example of what not to do, just as we are doing with Katrina?” A counterpart of Havens in Louisiana advises southeast Missouri to “plan, plan, plan.”
Dr. David Rogers of UMR devoted his entire presentation to lessons learned from Katrina. He used the example of the school buses that were to be used to transport refugees. Few, if any, of the bus drivers knew their role was to transport storm victims. The message they received was to go home and be with their families. He stated, “every person who will be tapped in an emergency needs to know what will be expected of them; such as bus drivers, medical personnel and law enforcement.”
Preparing for emergencies is not a new concept. Southeast’s Dr. John Kraemer heads up the CERT team, a nationally recognized training and preparedness group that includes personnel from the university, fire and police, public health departments, and the American Red Cross. Combining the resources of these vital agencies results in a strong collaboration focused on mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Further joining CERT efforts with technology developments of Rolla is a critically important partnership.
UMR and Southeast are seeking federal funding to create before and after scenarios using advanced technology, to continue and expand nationally recognized emergency training and to establish a command center on the Southeast campus that would direct communications, data, equipment, and environmental assessment before and after a catastrophic event.
If federal funding is secured, "the most visual change would be renovating the Wehking Alumni Center to be the new DPS office that would serve as a command center in the event of a major national disaster," according to Christy LeGrand, MRC projects coordinator.
