“Maj.” Ed Dames tells Coast to Coast AM that the map above represents the next place we might see a major earthquake, in the 8.0 range or higher.

I’m often skeptical of the Major but here he may have a point. Too many people still don’t realize that the worst earthquakes to ever hit the U.S. actually happened in the zone above, not on the West Coast. And the New Madrid zone is still active, in a small way. It’s never been completely quiescent. 

An 8.0 or bigger in the zone above would decimate Memphis and St. Louis and do major damage in Chicago, Louisville and Nashville. No one building in this zone has ever had reason to build with quakes in mind, either. NO ONE. So the death toll would be ungodly.

And this is one instance where I have a really bad feeling the New Madrid may just start to talk to us in my lifetime. If it does, we’ll even feel it here in Atlanta.

Let’s hope we’re (“Maj.” Ed and me) all wrong, though.