Missouri Quake Under Mississippi River Just Went Unnoticed

The old saying goes that what you don't know can't hurt you. That might be true in some cases, but I've found something that almost know one knows about that could someday hurt you. The USGS has confirmed an earthquake just happened directly under the Mississippi River.

Let's make something clear from the start. This is NOT a big deal. I'm sharing it because I know there are some YouTube channels in particular that will infer that this Missouri quake IS a big deal. I'll explain why later. First, the facts. The USGS has confirmed that a very minor 1.7 magnitude quake just happened near Marston, Missouri. If you zoom into where the epicenter of this tremor was, that's when this gets interesting. It was directly under the Mississippi River on the Missouri side. This is just one of around a half-dozen small quakes confirmed by the USGS in the past few days.

Infographic, USGS

Here's what the sensationalist YouTube channels will likely say about this quake

I will not embed them here, but here are a few examples of how YouTube fear mongers try to take even minor Missouri earthquakes and turn them into warnings of an imminent disaster:

• The New Madrid Fault Is WAKING UP — The Quake That Could SPLIT America in Half, 11 Million at Risk
• New Madrid Fault REACTIVATED?! The Midwest’s Hidden Threat Is Back!
• 200+ Earthquakes Shake The New Madrid Fault: The Big One Could Be Close

See what I mean? As I've mentioned so many times before, the USGS confirms there is no way to predict a major earthquake before it happens. No matter how strange a Missouri quake might seem, a tremor under the Mississippi River does not mean a major New Madrid Fault event is imminent.

All of that being said, it is important to have an emergency plan when it comes to earthquake preparedness in Missouri. If and when a major New Madrid Fault event happens, you will likely have absolutely no warning prior to the ground beneath your feet shaking. Know what you and your family would do if a major earthquake were to make bridges unusable and utilities like water, gas and electric unavailable. It might not happen in our lifetime or it could happen today. Just be ready and then don't lose any sleep over strange behavior in the seismically-active southern Missouri region.