EARTHQUAKE THREAT MADE US MORE PREPARED

There's nothing like the threat of falling into a huge crack in the earth to get Southeast Missouri residents interested in disaster preparedness.

Ten years after Iben Browning's forecast of a 50-50 chance of a major shift in the New Madrid Fault, we shake our heads and chuckle. We remember the school closings on Dec. 3-4, 1990, the commemorative T-shirts, the amazing journalist-to-resident ratio in little New Madrid, Mo., and the nagging feeling in the backs of our minds that just maybe Browning was right.

After all, he'd accurately predicted the Oct. 17, 1989, earthquake in San Francisco that killed 62 people. By now, a lot of people have forgotten that's the reason we paid so much attention to Dr. Browning, a New Mexico climatologist with no formal training in seismology.

As E-day approached, some of us bolted our water heaters to basement walls, stocked up on bottled water and canned goods and took our precious heirlooms out of china cabinets.

Others didn't do a thing, having grown so accustomed to living under the threat of an earthquake. Those folks joked that on Dec. 4, we'd probably have a flood with all the people dumping out their bottled water in relief.

And when the earthquake didn't come, Browning became an outcast who died knowing he was completely discredited by the scientific community and laughed at by the nation in general.

But Browning's prediction wasn't a bad thing. It reminded us about the risky place where we live. The fact is, we've learned since, that nobody can predict when we'll have a major earthquake. But nobody can deny that the fault makes itself known with magnitude 2 and 3 earthquakes every couple of months.

As a result, we carry earthquake insurance on our homes. The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, slated for completion in 2003, is being built to withstand a magnitude 8.5 earthquake -- one that would level buildings in this area.

What's so wrong with maintaining our earthquake kits? Why not keep bottled water, canned goods, flashlights, portable radios and batteries at the ready?

Certainly, our belief that we won't be around for The Big One is what allows us to live on the fault fearlessly, building homes and businesses in the belief that they'll be standing for many years to come.

But, false prediction or no, it's always better to follow the Boy Scout motto:

Be prepared.