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News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (02/03/10)

‘Earthquake Awareness' includes dam hazard awareness

February is Earthquake Awareness Month in Missouri, and it's also a good time for citizens to identify High-Hazard Potential (HHP) dams near where they live, work or regularly travel. These dams may develop safety problems in an earthquake and should have Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) completed as part of an area's preparedness. Across Missouri only about 34 of 469 HHP dams have EAPs, which are important even if there is no serious earthquake.

The nation's most extensive earthquake drill is planned for May 2011 in Missouri and adjoining states. EAPs would be a helpful tool for emergency response organizations during the exercise. The drill will assume that a 7.7 magnitude quake has struck all along the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), which extends 120-150 miles from Southern Illinois to Northeastern Arkansas and runs under the bootheel of Missouri. The drill will involve emergency management professionals from the White House down to local first responders. The timing will mark the bicentennial of massive quakes of up to magnitude 8 that rocked Missouri and much of the nation in 1811-12.

The National Science Foundation's Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAEC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has developed a highly detailed report on the probable impact of such an earthquake today in Missouri and other states along the fault. More than two dozen dams are likely to be damaged in an earthquake centered in the bootheel. While most flooding would be from the collapse of levee systems, the failure of HHP dams could add to the death toll and suffering. EAPs can help local emergency responders react promptly to emergencies at HHP dams at any time, not just after an earthquake.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has begun an initiative to help dam owners complete more EAPs on HHP dams. HHP means a breach of the dam would be likely to cause fatalities as well as considerable property damage. Under Missouri regulations, it is the dam owner's responsibility to create an EAP. HHP dams are the priority as DNR and local emergency managers help dam owners gather information needed for their EAPs.

Citizens as individuals or groups can be participants in the EAP process. The first step is to become aware of the location of nearby HHP dams. Even Missourians living many miles from the NMSZ should find out what HHP dams are in their area, who owns or manages the dams, and whether there is an EAP. DNR has maps and tables showing the location and classification of dams. These are posted online at: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/wrc/damsft/damsfthp.htm. DNR also has posted a template to use as the basis for an EAP.

HHP designation does not reflect the current condition of the dam, such as its safety or structural integrity, or its flood routing capacity. These dams are given safety inspections every 2 to 3 years. An earthquake can be a severe test of a dam's integrity and short of a complete breach can cause problems that would trigger implementation of an EAP.

A 7.7 magnitude quake would kill thousands of people, leave hundreds of thousands homeless, stranded and in need of relocation for long periods of time. Missouri would have extensive destruction of vital water, sewer, energy and other services, broken transportation systems, failure of communications infrastructure, and interruption of emergency and medical services. Economic losses throughout the region impacted by the quake are estimated at $300 billion, with most of this in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas.

The New Madrid exercise is a major element of the “New Madrid Seismic Zone Catastrophic Planning Initiative,” which has been ongoing since 2006 to coordinate national readiness for such a massive quake. The multi-year, multi-agency initiative is the largest planning effort ever undertaken in the United States.

Led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the initiative is coordinated by the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC), based in Memphis, Tennessee. CUSEC participants include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal departments, agencies from Missouri and seven other states, universities, and non-governmental emergency response and support organizations.

Regarding the recent 7.0 magnitude Haiti earthquake, a CUSEC statement cautioned that “This catastrophic event should serve as a reminder to central U.S. residents that we also have our own earthquake hazard to address, and that individual and community preparedness is key in mitigating losses of lives and property.”

One concern in Missouri is that within the 16 counties, including St. Louis, that would be hardest hit by that magnitude of a quake, there are 179 HHP dams. Of those, 43 are regulated by the state and only three state-regulated dams have an EAP. In the counties likely to suffer the most damage (Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott, Mississippi, Stoddard, New Madrid, Pemiscot and Dunklin) there are 45 HHP dams. The MAEC foresees damage to more than two dozen dams, though all may not be HHP.

If more of those dams have an EAP by the time of the earthquake drill, emergency response officials could include a simulated exercise of those EAPs. After the drill, the EAPs would contribute to readiness for any type of emergency at those dams.

An outreach and communications program, including educational materials and the website DamSafetyAction.org, has been launched and supported by FEMA to help the public and dam owners understand the importance of EAPs, especially if the dam is near the New Madrid Seismic Zone. DNR has posted considerable information on earthquake awareness on its website: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/geology/earthaware2010.htm, which includes links to the U.S. Geological Survey. Information about the earthquake drill can be found at www.cusec.org, and the MAEC damage assessments are at http://mae.cee.illinois.edu.

The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency says 47 Missouri counties would be at risk during a severe New Madrid earthquake, and the other 67 counties would be expected to receive and shelter hundreds of thousands of evacuating citizens for a considerable length of time. Last fall FEMA and CUSEC held a conference on the “mass care” that displaced people would need during recovery. Presentations from that conference are posted on the SEMA website: www.sema.dps.mo.gov.

SEMA and DNR records show that these are the number of HHP dams among the 16 counties that could be hardest hit in a catastrophic earthquake: Bollinger, 10 (1 DNR regulated); Butler, 9; Cape Girardeau, 16 (6 DNR regulated); Dunklin, 2; Lewis, 8 (4 DNR regulated); Lincoln, 24 (5 DNR regulated); Marion, 4; Perry, 20 (5 DNR regulated); Pike, 16 (5 DNR regulated); Ralls, 12 (1 DNR regulated); St. Louis, 39 (13 DNR regulated); Scott, 5 (3 DNR regulated); Stoddard, 13. St. Louis City has one HHP dam.

Mississippi, New Madrid, and Pemiscot Counties have no HHP dams. In the counties most at risk there are dozens of dams that are not HHP but that, if breached, could cause flooding that would hamper the recovery effort.

DNR does not have authority to regulate dams less than 35 feet in height, agricultural dams, or dams regulated by federal agencies. Many dams less than 35 feet high hold back hundreds of acre-feet of water, and the structural condition of those dams is largely unknown. The threshold for state regulation of dams in all eight states adjoining Missouri is 25 feet.

An EAP is a course of action to reduce potential property damage and loss of lives in an area affected by a dam failure. The most complete EAPs include a map of the potential inundation area, procedures and information for warning downstream emergency management authorities, and other crucial information. Dam owners can develop their initial EAPs without inundation maps, which DNR is in the process of creating for every state-regulated HHP dam on behalf of dam owners.

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Contact Information

About DamSafetyAction.org
DamSafetyAction.org is an outreach and communications program produced as an information and education source for the public and dam owners. Supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this program will assist Missouri in achieving completion of Emergency Action Plans on all state-regulated High-Hazard Potential dams.

Contacts for More Information
For Missouri dam safety program inspections and Emergency Action Plans:
Robert A. Clay, P.E. Chief Engineer, Dam and Reservoir Safety Program, Water Resources Center, Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Phone 573-368-2177,

For Missouri earthquake information:
Joe Gillman, state geologist and Division of Geology and Land Survey director with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and coordinator for the Association of Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) State Geologists
Phone: 573-368-2101,

David A. Gaunt, Geologist, Geohazards Unit, Division of Geology and Land Survey
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Phone: 573-368-2182,

For Missouri Department of Natural Resources dam safety program and policy information:
Larry Archer, DNR Information Officer
Phone: 573-751-3807,

For www.damsafetyaction.org information:
Ron Butler, Executive Vice President, Creative Communications Network, Inc.
Phone: 816/407-9194,

DamSafetyAction.org is an outreach and communications program supported by
the Federal Emergency Management Agency