Monday, February 8, 2010

Ohio could be shaken by earthquakes

Feb. 8, 2010, Fremont News-Messenger

BY JESSICA ALAIMO AND RUSS ZIMMER
Special to the News-Messenger

It could be tomorrow. It could be in 300 years. At some point, the plates far beneath the earth will start to shift 600 miles southwest of here.

It will be a 7- or 8-magnitude earthquake. Memphis, the closest city to the epicenter, would be destroyed. In southwest Ohio, the ground would shake and bookcases would topple. Older buildings might collapse.

The damage will be far more catastrophic than what the Gulf Coast saw in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina.

Earthquakes are in the news again because of the disaster in Haiti. Ohio is no stranger to earthquakes — 221 have occurred in the state’s known history, most around Shelby County and near Lake and Ashtabula counties. Few caused any damage.

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