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Arkansas' Homeland Security and Disaster Preparedness Agency

Arkansas Department of Emergency Management

To contact us:

Arkansas Department of Emergency Management

Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Building 9501

North Little Rock, AR 72199-9600

 

Earthquakes

The evening of December 15, 1811 in the New Madrid area was clear and quiet, with no unusual conditions which could be regarded as portending the catastrophe soon to take place.  A little after 2’oclock on the morning of December 16, the inhabitants of the region were suddenly awakened by the groaning, creaking, and cracking of the timbers of the houses or cabins in which they are sleeping, by the rattle of furniture thrown down and by the crash of falling chimneys.  In fear and trembling, they hurriedly groped their way from their houses to escape the falling debris and remained shivering in the winter air until morning, the repeated shocks at interval during the night keeping them from returning to their weakened or tottering dwellings.  Daylight brought little improvement to their situation, for early in the morning another shock, preceded by a low rumbling and fully as severe as the first was experienced.  The ground rose and fell as earth waves, like the long low swell of the sea, passed across its surface, tilting the trees until their branches interlocked and opening the soil in deep cracks as the surface was bent.  Land slides swept down  the steeper bluffs and hillsides; considerable areas were uplifted, and still larger areas sunk and became covered with water emerging from below through fissures or little “craterlets” or accumulating from the obstruction of the surface drainage.  On the Mississippi, great waves were created which overwhelmed many boats and washed others high upon the shore, the return current breaking off thousands of trees and carrying them out into the river.  High banks caved and were precipitated into the river, sand bars and points of islands gave way and whole islands disappeared.

During December 16th and 17th, shocks continued at short intervals but gradually diminished in intensity.  They occurred at longer intervals until January 23, when  there was another shock similar in intensity and destructiveness to the first.  This shock was followed by about two weeks of quiescence, but on February 7 there were several alarming and destructive shocks, the last equaling or surpassing any previous disturbance and for several days, the earth was in nearly a constant tremor.

For fully a year from this date, small shocks occurred at intervals of a few days, but as there were no other destructive shocks the people gradually became accustomed to the vibrations and gave little or no further attention to them.

From The New Madrid Earthquake, b Myron L. Fuller 1912.

History