Video Recreates What 1811 Missouri Mega-Quake Looked Like

To state the obvious, there were no video cameras around to capture the historic New Madrid earthquakes in the early 1800's. That doesn't mean that you can't have an idea of what it must have been like to live through those terrible quakes. A computer has modeled the event using known data to reveal what that horrific event might have been like.

It was the early morning hours of December 16, 1811 in southern Missouri when the New Madrid Fault unleashed one of the largest quakes in history

How big was the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812?

According to the City of New Madrid, Missouri, there were upwards of 200 earthquakes in total from late 1811 into early 1812. The most severe were 3 quakes. The first hit northeastern Arkansas on December 16, 1811. The second struck New Madrid, Missouri on January 13, 1812 estimated to be between 7 and 7.8 in magnitude. The largest quake of all in this series may have been the third quake which impacted New Madrid on February 7, 1812 with estimates saying it could have been up to an 8 in magnitude quake. New Madrid, Missouri was completely destroyed and many buildings in St. Louis were also heavily-damaged as the city says the effects were "general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks".