Earthquake drills will be held Thursday as part of the Great Central United States Shakeout.
The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance reports nearly 500,000 Missourians will participate in the shakeout at 10:17 in the morning. The department encourages consumers to consider their plan for financial recovery if a major earthquake event occurs in Missouri.
A recent Earthquake Insurance Market Report issued by the department showed more than 60% of residences in the New Madrid fault area in the southeast quadrant of the state had earthquake insurance in 2000, but just less than 14% by 2018.
Take-up rates also decreased in other high-risk areas outside of the New Madrid zone from 67.6% to 46.3% in the same time period. Experts estimate the primary earthquakes of a series in the New Madrid area of Missouri during the winter of 1811 and 1812 ranged in magnitude from 7.0 to 7.5.
The risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has estimated a New Madrid recurrence would produce insured losses of 120 billion dollars.
A joint assessment by the Mid-American Earthquake Center of the University of Illinois and Federal Emergency Management Agency predicted a major New Madrid event could entail total economic losses of 300 billion dollars, surpassing the highest total economic loss of any natural disaster in U. S. history.
