Or, Why the ‘Fly-Over’ States are More Important than We Thought

Phyllis Steckel, RG Earthquake Insight LLC Washington, Mo.

Earthquake Risks in the Central US Hazards Risks Ground-shaking Liquefaction Lateral spreading Slumping Landslides Aftershocks Direct loss of life & property Business interruption Uninsured losses Loss of infrastructure Loss of market Loss of market share

“Fly-Over States” East & West Coasts have Most population Economic power Political heavyweights International gateways Technology centers “Emerging” incubators

“Fly-Over States” Unique process facilities and industrial resources Critical transportation corridors National well-being depends on Central US

Key Commodities

New Madrid Area Corporation’s largest soybean seed production plant $60M investment, built in acre footprint; 129- acre site 65 employees

New Madrid Area Primary aluminum – North America’s largest foil producer Electrical and cable supply markets Foundry alloy for vehicle wheels, hubs, & gas pump nozzles

New Madrid Area Coal-fired power plant On banks of Mississippi River Third-largest electric utility in Missouri

Southeast Missouri City-owned power plant Coal-fired Straddles liquefaction features from earthquakes

‘Swamp east’ Missouri

Little River Drainage District LRDD formed by landowners  many other drainage districts! Designed and built  infrastructure Many engineers & workers from Panama Canal project

Little River Drainage District

Diverts runoff from the Ozarks to the Mississippi Channelized surface waters between the Mississippi and the St. Francis rivers Productive industrialized agriculture now

“The Delta” of Missouri & Arkansas Water table near surface Near-flat surface topography Shows evidence of past uplifts & downdrops from earthquakes

Northeast Arkansas Mini-mills  steel recycling Second-largest steel producing area in the US Mostly structural steel New $1.1B+ steel “super project” begun in 2013

Northeast Arkansas Steel industry suppliers Arkansas Aeroplex – one of longest runways in US Engineered drainages

Regional Critical Facilities Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant – located in floodplain Opened in 1952 as only US- owned uranium enrichment facility Owned by US Dept of Energy; privately operated Closure, decontamination & demolition in progress

Regional Critical Facilities Critical National Geospatial Intelligence Agency facilities are located in St. Louis and Arnold, Mo.

Critical Transportation Air transport & logistics Railroad Trucking River barge Pipeline

Air Transport Memphis: world’s busiest cargo airport Cargo super-hub ‘America’s Distribution Center’ FedEx (30,000+) in MEM 17% of Memphis workers in transportation – highest in the country

Critical Rail Transportation Rail transport system at/near capacity Critical concentration in central US Memphis Intermodal serves 26% US population, 30% of US output

Critical Highway Transportation Memphis, Little Rock, & St. Louis: busiest east-west trucking corridors in US Interstates 55, 44, 64, 57, 70, 40 Hundreds of trucking terminals

Critical River Transportation Moves commodities within one-third of US Memphis is fourth- largest inland port in US St. Louis is second- largest by ton-miles

Critical River Transportation Memphis #1 in foreign import tonnage ~20,000+ jobs ~$10B+ economic impact Coal, grain, ores, steel, cotton,

Critical Pipeline Transportation

Critical Inventory Exposure Memphis inventories surgical supplies, house- hold goods, auto parts, pharmaceuticals, etc. Order by midnight, next- day delivery Headquarters & customers elsewhere

 ‘Fly-Over’ States Critical Much of the country’s inventory and resources are located in or travel through the central US.

Much of the country’s inventory and resources are exposed to earthquake hazards and earthquake risks that are generally unrecognized.

Sustainable Disaster Recovery Depends on recognizing potential big-picture impacts Depends on leadership to take action to mitigate big-picture impacts

Phyllis Steckel