Why Is Wal-Mart Preparing For A Major Earthquake On The New Madrid Fault?Michael Snyder And officials at the U.S. Geological Survey have just released a report which indicates that they believe that the New Madrid fault zone has the potential for larger and more powerful quakes than previously thought. So should we be concerned? Do they know something that we dont? The USGS also says that the frequency of earthquakes in the central and eastern portions of the United States has quintupled over the past 30 years, and that significant earthquakes have started popping up in areas of the country that were once extremely quiet. Along with the new report, the USGS released the following map Most Americans dont realize this, but the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history did not happen in California. Rather, they actually occurred along the New Madrid Fault zone in 1811 and 1812. Documents from that time indicate that those earthquakes were so powerful that they were felt more than 1,000 miles away. That is why it is so alarming that Wal-Mart is actively preparing for a major earthquake along the New Madrid Fault. The following is fromthe Wall Street Journal article that I mentioned above And that Wal-Mart executive is absolutely correct earthquake activity in the central part of the country is increasing. In fact, as I mentioned above,it has quintupled over the past 30 years The USGS has also specifically identified the New Madrid fault zone as an area to watch Hopefully it wont happen any time soon, but a massive earthquake along the New Madrid fault has the potential to be extraordinarily destructive. One New Madrid earthquake in 1812 was so powerful that itrang church bells up in Boston and toppled chimneys up in Canada At that time, the New Madrid region was sparsely populated. But today, tens of millions of people live there, and most buildings have not been built to withstand massive earthquakes. According to ABC News, a study by the Mid-America Earthquake Center discovered that even a magnitude 7.7 earthquake would cause incredible amounts of damage. The study concluded that nearly 750,000 buildings would be damaged, 3,000 bridges would potentially collapse, 400,000 breaks and leaks to local pipelines and $300 billion in direct damage and $600 billion in indirect losses would occur. So what would a magnitude 8 or a magnitude 9 earthquake look like? And most people dont realize that there are 15 nuclear reactors along the New Madrid fault zone. In the event of a major earthquake, we could have multiple Fukushimas all going on at the same time. Let us hope that it is a very long time before a disaster such as this strikes. But as I mentioned above, earthquake activity in the central part of the country has increased dramatically in recent years. And Wal-Mart is so concerned that it actually participated in an exercise to prepare for an earthquake on the New Madrid fault line just a few weeks ago. So let us hope for the best, but let us also not be blind to the warnings signs all around us. This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here. 