Video Claims 600 Hidden Earthquakes Shook Missouri Recently

A new video has just made some startling claims and it's now spreading like wildfire. It asserts that there have been more than 600 hidden earthquakes that have shaken the New Madrid Fault in Missouri in recent weeks, but is it really true? Let's see what provable facts tell us.

You would think that if Missouri had 600+ earthquakes, someone would have felt them, right?

I came across this new video just shared by Discover Tube and almost immediately rolled my eyes. To be fair to them, you can watch their claims that the New Madrid Seismic Zone has had more than 600 earthquakes in recent weeks. I'll fact-check what they say shortly.

Is there any real truth to their claim that Missouri and the New Madrid Fault region has had 600+ earthquakes?

The exact words in their video description say they break down "a weeks-long swarm of 600+ earthquakes rippling across Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and southern Illinois". Here's the map from the USGS showing all measurable quakes that have happened along the New Madrid Fault in the past 30 days. They only count 29 tremors. 

There are other claims made in the video about increased activity along the New Madrid Fault recently and there is an element of truth to what they say which is the real problem. Discover Tube is not a minor YouTube channel. They, at the moment, have over 200,000 subscribers. When a channel with this kind of reach shares a video like this, it can spread quickly. The problem is they provide no links to backup what they're claiming. They say the 600+ quakes were only recorded by instruments. What instruments? I have contacts at the USGS that will tell you that all seismic activity is recorded, reviewed and then confirmed on their earthquake page. That includes very minor sub-2 magnitude quakes. I can find nothing in their database to confirm even 10% of the quakes they're claiming have happened in recent weeks.

I have no doubt you're familiar with the story about the boy who cried wolf. After a certain number of wolf claims, no one believes him when a real wolf appears. The same principle applies to New Madrid Fault quakes. I'm an earthquake nerd who checks activity daily, but I'm careful to avoid sensationalistic claims because there will likely come a day when a real Missouri earthquake threat will happen. It would be a shame if scientists come up with a real way to predict earthquakes someday, but no one will listen because of all these outlandish doomsday quake claims. If you're interested in Missouri earthquake activity like I am, I'd recommend you avoid videos like this and go directly to the USGS earthquake hazards site. Facts are always better than unreal sensationalism.