1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Earthquake in El Dorado, Arkansas

Discussion in '2007 Archive' started by KenH, May 16, 2007.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    41,907
    Likes Received:
    1,469
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I can report on this first hand. About 8:20 this morning there was an earthquake with its epicenter about 9 miles northeast of El Dorado, Arkansas, around 3.0 on the Richter Scale.

    I work on the third floor of a four story office building. I felt at least two strong shocks come through the building. Our building was evacuated and we were sent home for the day while the building is checked for any structural damage. Hopefully, there was none, but if there was I know I wouldn't want to be in there if the floors started pancaking on each other.

    My first thought was that maybe a local chemical plant or refinery had blown up. Then, I wondered whether the New Madrid fault up around Memphis had finally let go and the mega-earthquake that seismologists have been predicting for years finally happened. Fortunately, it wasn't anything like that at all.

    I guess now I know a bit what the folks out in California go through.
     
  2. SBCPreacher

    SBCPreacher Active Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 30, 2006
    Messages:
    2,764
    Likes Received:
    0
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Ken,

    We spent about 20 years in Magnolia and Camden. Two of our girls were born in El Dorado. Please keep us informed about what's happening.
     
  3. JFox1

    JFox1 New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2005
    Messages:
    737
    Likes Received:
    0
    On June 10, 1987, between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m., I was at home reading the newspaper when suddenly, the windows shook violently from side to side. I said, "What the?" The windows shook again and I yelled that it was an earthquake. At the same time, I dropped the newspaper and ran to the doorway. The windows were still shaking violently from side to side and I heard a low, rumbling sound coming from the ground towards the street. I later found out it was a magnitude 5.0 earthquake, and its epicenter was near the Wabash Valley fault in western Indiana, which is connected to the New Madrid fault in Missouri. WOW!

    Keep us informed about the situation in Arkansas.
     
  4. KenH

    KenH Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2002
    Messages:
    41,907
    Likes Received:
    1,469
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Everything was back to normal today. :)
     
  5. lgpruitt

    lgpruitt New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    Messages:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    I live in West Tennessee and we get little jolts from the New Madrid from time to time. I recall one Thanksgiving watching a movie about midnight with my family and our 110 gallon fish tank started getting waves in it due to a tremor.
    I'm just waiting for the New Madrid to let it rip one day. They say we're over due for a quake here. Needless to say, we do have earthquake insurance.
    :tonofbricks:
     
  6. ktn4eg

    ktn4eg New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2004
    Messages:
    3,517
    Likes Received:
    4
    I'm a little further east than my BB friend lgpruitt, but if the New Madrid fault line ever does let go with "the big one" (which we're told is long overdue), I'm sure we'll feel it too.

    Hopefully the damage as a result of this one in Arkansas will be minimal, and my prayers go out to those who may be affected by it.

    Could this be another indication of the end times as referred to in Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, and Luke 21:11?
     
  7. Hope of Glory

    Hope of Glory New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2005
    Messages:
    4,807
    Likes Received:
    0
    I was out in the Prince William Sound a few years back (you don't get much more "middle of nowhere" than that) when a 6.2 came rumbling through. You could here it coming through the mountains, hit and shook pretty hard when it got to us, and you could here it receding in the distance. Of course, out there, there aren't any buildings to fall down.

    We had a 6.2 a couple of years back, but only one or two strong enough to be felt in the last couple of years. Of course, everything here is built in such a way that a magnitude 8 probably wouldn't do a whole lot of damage, except to interrupt power and such.

    Now, when the 9.2 hit back in '65, 13 people actually died from the violence of the shaking. But, then again, whereas most 'quakes last a few seconds, the one in '65 lasted something like 6 or 7 minutes, if memory serves.

    I know one man who was a kid back in '65, and his most vivid memory was as their cabin was sliding down the hill, his mother was catching dishes out of the cabinets, and placing them on the table where they promptly slid off and broke any way. He said she did this until the cabinets were empty.
     
  8. saturneptune

    saturneptune New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2006
    Messages:
    13,977
    Likes Received:
    2
    Same here in west KY. Earthquake insurance is required.
     
  9. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2000
    Messages:
    15,371
    Likes Received:
    2,405
    Faith:
    Baptist
    As someone who lives in earthquake country, I recommend
    • Living in a wood or steel frame house. Earthquakes looove masonry buildings so much they eat them up :love2: .
    • Make sure you framing is tied to your foundation.
     
  10. saturneptune

    saturneptune New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2006
    Messages:
    13,977
    Likes Received:
    2
    Our house is brick and frame on a slab. How do buildings on slabs react? Thanks
     
  11. Hope of Glory

    Hope of Glory New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2005
    Messages:
    4,807
    Likes Received:
    0
    I watched a documentary on an earthquake proof house being built in Japan. They got a 7.4, and it fell. Not very earthquake proof.

    Wood or steel is the way to go. Around here, a lot of the older houses are on spruce pilings, although they won't permit new builds that way. Those old houses withstood some pretty heavy 'quakes.

    Slabs are fine, but the bricks might be a problem. I don't know, though.

    Edited to add: There are absolutely no brick homes here in Homer, Alaska and surrounding areas. I don't know about the rest of the Kenai Peninsula, though.
     
    #11 Hope of Glory, May 20, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: May 20, 2007
  12. lgpruitt

    lgpruitt New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    Messages:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    Mine(house) is brick on a crawl space. West Tennessee is not earthquake ready. Although in 1811 and 1812 there was a quake so large that Reelfoot lake was created...you'd think we'd get the idea to build things more earthquake ready.
    The New Madrid fault line runs from Marked Tree, ARK to New Madrid, MO. It's an active little thing....
    :tonofbricks:
     
  13. lgpruitt

    lgpruitt New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    Messages:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    Our area also loves tornadoes....
    I need to move!
    :praying:
     
  14. Hope of Glory

    Hope of Glory New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2005
    Messages:
    4,807
    Likes Received:
    0
    Used to be that in a big 'quake, the ground would shake, people would fall down, then after it's over, they'd get up and carry on. (Except for really, really big ones that can literally shake people to death, and of course, tsunamis.)

    Nowadays, with big buildings, etc., they're a bigger deal.
     
  15. lgpruitt

    lgpruitt New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    Messages:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    Very true...much bigger deal.
    :tonofbricks:
     
  16. Hope of Glory

    Hope of Glory New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2005
    Messages:
    4,807
    Likes Received:
    0
    I know the 'quake of '65 (or '67; whenever) that we had here was the second largest 'quake in recorded history.

    If memory serves (don't hold me to the accuracy of this), there were only a few more than 100 killed. 12 or 13 were shaken to death, 12 or 13 drowned in CA from the tsunami, a few drowned in Valdez when the dock disappeared, things like that. We don't have a lot of people, very few large buildings, and most schools and offices were closed for Good Friday.

    However, if you get one 10 story building go down, you will have much more than that all in that one building.

    Multiply that times hundreds.

    If a 9.2 hits Memphis, look out!
     
  17. Baptist Believer

    Baptist Believer Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2002
    Messages:
    10,720
    Likes Received:
    781
    Faith:
    Baptist
    It was 1964.
     
  18. ktn4eg

    ktn4eg New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2004
    Messages:
    3,517
    Likes Received:
    4
    HoG and lgpruitte are right about what a 9+ earthquake would do to Memphis and the surrounding areas today.

    Probably the main reason why "the big one" along the New Madrid fault line that took place in the early 1800's (I think it was 1811) during which Reelfoot Lake was created and the Mississippi River flowed backwards was not as destructive as it could have been was because there were not as many people living in that region then.

    If that same quake happened today, Memphis (TN's largest city with a population close to three quarters of a million people) would most likely be wiped out, and who knows what the total impact would be to our nation given the importance of the Mississippi River to our national (and international) commerce.

    And, as lgpruitte pointed out, in recent years western and middle TN areas have suffered a lot of damage due to tornadoes.

    It was only a little over a year ago that one tornado destroyed the new facilities of Metro Baptist Church in Goodlettsville TN (a town just northwest of Nashville). Thankfully Metro still had their old facilities in Madison TN (also north of Nashville) where they could meet. I believe it was just a couple weeks ago that Metro started meetings (at least on a limited scale) back at Goodlettsville.

    I also remember back in May, 2003, when there was a series of tornadoes in the Jackson TN area (a city between Nashville and Memphis). A contingent of my TN Air National Guard wing (me being one of them) had just arrived back in Nashville from a deployment to Saudi Arabia. When we landed, we saw very little media there because most were covering the tornado damage in Jackson.

    My question to my friend lgpruitte is this: Where else can a person move to that today is exempt from the threat of destruction by these "acts of God"?
     
  19. Hope of Glory

    Hope of Glory New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2005
    Messages:
    4,807
    Likes Received:
    0
    I know that it happened either just before or just after I was born, but I can never remember which.

    Next time...



    I'll still forget.
     
  20. lgpruitt

    lgpruitt New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    Messages:
    300
    Likes Received:
    0
    I live in Jackson. We've had tornadoes hit in 1999 and 2003. In 1999 we were out of school for a week. In 2003 it was an F4 with widespread damage. That was ONE very scary night for me. I was a single mom with both kids at home and no basement. We all got into the bathtub and prayed. The area that I lived in at the time got damage (my car had $5K) and it really relocated large numbers of people in Jackson. The damage was unreal. One school that I had taught at was completely wiped out.

    At any rate, we were forunate that few (around 12 or 13) people perished. But, I have kids to this day in my classroom that will cry when the sirens go off for a tornado warning.

    Where to move to? I'm from East Tennessee. (Johnson City) The weather is good there..no earthquakes...no tornadoes.... I've lived up and down the east coast (literally). I've been through hurricanes in Florida to blizzards in MA. There's no place like home....
     
    #20 lgpruitt, May 21, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: May 21, 2007
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
Loading...