Most notably there was an earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Virginia today, with a magnitude of 5.8. At this stage damage and injuries do not appear to be widespread, but a nuclear power plant at North Anna has lost off-site power. Although operations of the two reactors have ceased, they still rely on diesel generators to maintain cooling. If they fail for any reason, there is no further backup plan, and meltdown will occur.
In my upcoming book I have this to say about earthquakes and the East Coast:
The other region that could suffer is between Memphis and the southern border of Illinois, known as the New Madrid Fault. Back in the early 1800s this location received a pair of 7.0+ earthquakes and experts have warned it could get hit again, especially with the recent tremors.
Did they just have the big one, or was it a preliminary tremor? Or, being some distance away from the New Madrid Fault, is it unrelated? Hard to tell and expect to hear a variety of opinions from the experts.
Meanwhile Colorado had a 5.7 quake, the largest in that state since 1973.
These are large earthquakes, but minor in the greater scheme of things. Even so, airports were temporarily closed, the Pentagon and other government offices were evacuated, power supplies are threatened and cell phone systems are over-loaded. Expect the usual run on survival supplies at stores day.
Yet another reminder to be prepared for something worse.
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