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• The New Madrid Seismic Zone is centered in Southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas, but extends into parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. The region is considered to pose the greatest danger in the United States and has the highest seismicity level of any area east of the Rocky Mountains. Due to the geology of the area, damages could be spread over a large area of the central United States.

• Addendum 1 to this attachment illustrates the projected Modified Mercalli intensities for Missouri should a 7.6 magnitude earthquake occur anywhere along the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Saline County can expect to feel the effects of a VI intensity on the Modified Mercalli scale. (See Addendum 1 for a list of these effects.)

• Earthquakes are more likely to hinder emergency operations than most other disasters or emergencies (i.e., difficulties coordinating services and acquiring resources could be much more critical).

• A moderate to major earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic zone could cause injuries and casualties, as well as serious damage to highways, bridges, communications, and utilities.

• A seismic event could trigger numerous secondary hazards, such as fires, landslides, flooding, explosions, dam failures, and hazardous materials incidents.

• An earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone could quickly overwhelm a jurisdiction's ability to adequately respond to the situation.

Access to and from the damaged area may be severely restricted for hours at least, if not days.

Communications and life-support systems may be severely hampered or destroyed.

Seismic-caused ground motions and its resulting damages may vary within a geographical region. There could be heavy damage in one area and only slight damage in another area.

Initial reports of the earthquake may not reflect the true nature of the problem.

A catastrophic earthquake would result in an immediate declaration of a "State of Emergency" by the Governor, followed later by a Presidential Disaster Declaration. This would allow state and federal emergency operations to begin.

Local jurisdictions may have to operate independently with no outside assistance for the first 72 hours after an earthquake before state and federal assistance arrives.