Approximately 50 Northeast and Central Missouri emergency managers, first responders, elected officials and municipal officials gathered at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mexico on Sept. 10 to learn about and discuss the real possibility of a sizable earthquake affecting central and northeast Missouri, according to a release from the Audrain County Health Department.

Attendees heard presentations from those at the local, state and private entity levels concerning how a sizable earthquake would affect the area and how to respond to it as emergency officials and governmental entities. The Audrain County Health Department sponsored the free event for those responders and officials.

“If the New Madrid Seismic Zone let loose with another eight-point earthquake, we’d definitely feel it up here in Central and Northeast Missouri and, more than likely, we’d have damage and maybe some injuries or fatalities,” said ACHD Emergency Planner and PIO Chris Newbrough, in the release.

Newbrough led a planning committee responsible for organizing the event.

“We felt this important to put on for the area to give those responsible for public safety a chance to come together, learn, discuss and maybe walk away with a different perspective,” he said.

Attendees heard from an emergency planner from New Madrid County who talked about the importance of planning for an earthquake even if the threat isn’t deemed as high as others. Also, subjects covered by experts included structural integrity of early and mid-19th century buildings found in central and northeast Missouri; communications in an emergency to include amateur radio, the formation of a Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) group to help with recovery needs; a history of earthquakes in Missouri and what a possible large one would look like as far as damage and ground effects; how the state can help with a mass casualty event such as a large earthquake; evacuation concepts from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA); and, a panel discussion on immediate and long-term response from various first responder, utility and transportation agencies.

“We were absolutely pleased with the interest in this topic and with the turn out for it from those responsible for planning for these types of emergencies,” ACHD Administrator/CEO Craig Brace said, in the release. “While this may not be something that is top of mind for our residents, it’s our responsibility to make sure it is for us.”

Newbrough said he couldn’t thank the committee enough that helped put this together.

“We definitely could not have done this without our planning committee,” Newbrough said. “That included SEMA Earthquake Program Manager Jeff Briggs, Audrain County Emergency Management Director Carl Donaldson, Craig Brace, Audrain Ambulance Director Josh Loyd and City of Mexico Public Works Engineering Technician Greg Sewell. Without these people, we wouldn’t have had the summit.”

Brace also thanked the sponsors of the event.

“We had some wonderful sponsors come alongside us to support our program and, those included EDF Power Solutions, Gold Crest Distributing, Dagwood’s Jr. of Mexico and St. John’s Lutheran Church,” Brace said. “Without these partners, we would have had a smaller summit to offer.”

Newbrough said the summit provided helpful information.

“Hopefully, this summit will start the discussion up here about a topic that someone in one of these emergency response roles may not have thought about much,” he said. “We’re just happy we were able to help get the conversation started through this summit and residents of this part of the state will be better off due to that conversation happening.”