Hi Canie, Thanks for posting these articles. I had read on Reuters awhile back about a conference to be held on the risk of New Madrid quakes. I brought this up to my brother who is a design engineer in the midwest. He stated that more and more states in the midwest are and have for the past several years, begun to design buildings, inner heating/cooling systems, etc.. to EQ standards as is done in CA. But there is a long, long way to go in retrofitting and the general public for the most part is not even aware of the danger from the New Madrid. During the conference was also to be discussed how to get information out to the public to prepare or if it was necessary to do so. I say it's definitely a necessity. Take care, Lucinda