Not related to the Haitian disaster

We had a minor earthquake here in northeast Arkansas at 3:18 p.m. yesterday – magnitude 3.3 about 36 miles WNW of Jonesboro and 3 miles WNW of Lynn.

I didn’t notice it, but a lot of people did.

And naturally, a lot of people think it has some connection with the quakes in Haiti.

No. It does not.

There is no linkage between the fault system that flattened Haiti and the New Madrid seismic region. Unfortunately, there are some morons on the cable news channels who can’t understand that, so they keep saying things that freak people out.

Yes, we do live in a region that saw the largest earthquakes in U.S. history, but the New Madrid fault system has its own timetable and dynamic and is not linked in any way with what happened in Haiti.

And you can find experts who differ widely on what we can expect from the New Madrid fault system. Some say its energy is spent and there will be no more major quakes here. On the other end of the spectrum, some say major quakes happen here at 200-300-year intervals and the region could suffer unspeakable devastation any day now.