I also have never experienced a earthquake, but I did experience something up there in the same category, navel gun fire from the USS New Jersey firing inland, when doing a tour of duty in Vietnam. Nine, 16-inch shells, each shell contained 2200 lbs of high explosives, that had a range of over 27 miles. Believe me, we were order to hit the deck before the New Jersey fired it big guns, otherwise we would have been knocked off our feet when they landed miles away from us, otherwise we would be risking injuries from the blast effect and the ground swell.
On different occasion, I was involved in field training at Fort McCoy WI (July 1974), and this 2nd Lieutenant in the Tactical Operation Center (T.O.C) was getting in everyone’s way trying to participate in things that did not pertained to his assigned duties (which were basically to sit in the corner of the tent and not bother anyone!). Finally the Brigade Commander told the Lieutenant to draw-up plans and list of equipment, materials, and personnel needed to create a “anti-tank ditch” that would be over 1-mile in length, which the General pointed to on the Operation Center’s Map in the T.O.C…
I was the T.O.C. NCOIC (Tactical Operation Center Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge), and I could see that the 2nd Lieutenant was clueless about the order just given him by the Brigadier General. So I took the Lieutenant aside and walked him through the process of planning a “Anti-Tank Ditch”. To the the Lieutenants surprised (and may I add the General’s too, for the Lieutenant submitting what was mostly my work so quickly) to the Lieutenant to draw the equipment, supplies, vehicles, and troops needed to create the “Anti-Tank Ditch”! Which with my help the Lieutenant did. It took from start to finish only 4 hours to build the “Anti-Tank Ditch” place the explosives and connect the wires along the two rows of dugged holes! The General of the Infantry order all 27 Companies in the Brigade to rally at the location of recently created “Anti-Tank Ditch” and to bring along all their armored vehicles and Anti-Tank Weapons. Then the units were divided into two groups, those with armored vehicles on one side of the “Anti-Tank Ditch”, and all other units on the otherside of the "Anti-Tank Ditch with their sub-caliber “Anti-Tank Weapon Ammunition” for LAWS (Light Armor Weapons System) and their TOWS (Tactical Optical Weapon System). General order the ditch to be blown, and after the dirt and dust settled, there was the perfect “Anti-Tank Ditch” for the the units with armored vehicles to attempt to breach, and the units with no armored vehicles to attempt to destroy the armored vehicles of the other team. Good training was had by all, and the Lieutenant was quickly assigned other duties shortly there after as a reward for impressing the General with his knowledge about “Anti-Tank Ditches”! Which is how you get rid of 2nd Lieutenants! You just help them to get reassigned out your unit! Couple days later, I read a newspaper article in the newspaper, that there had been a earthquake in New Madrid MO. On the same day (July 4th), at the same time, hundreds of miles away from Ft McCoy Wisconsin, where we exploded the “Anti-Tank Ditch”! (True Story) ~Parnelli
On a Serious Note: New Zealand experiences over 1000 earthquakes every year, New Zealand is located over a major fault line in the “Ring of Fire” that circles the Pacific Ocean Basin. The last major earthquake to hit New Zealand was in 2009 was registered magnitude 7.8 that moved the South Islands southern (unpopulated region) tip 12-inches closer to neighboring Australia. Yesterdays earthquake (7.1 magnitude, was very very close to (epicenter was only 13 miles west of Christchurch NZ the largest city on the south island. It is a miracle that nobody was killed, with only 2 persons seriously hurt, although there is lots and lots of damage…
I believe the largest magnitude earthquake recorded in the U.S.A happened in the region around New Madrid MO, with four earthquakes with magnitudes ranging of (7.0 to 8.1) between December 16th, 1811 to February 7th 1812. The four earthquakes cause the Mississippi River to temporarily flow upstream, and altered the Mississippi River’s course around New Madrid MO. During one of the four earthquakes, the church bells in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia started to ring, with the local inhabitants wondering the cause of the bells ringing. Most people when they think about earthquakes in the U.S.A. would think mostly about California and maybe Alaska, but never even think about Missouri.
