By AP
Carterville, IL – More than 50 officials from local emergency preparedness agencies are learning more about what a major earthquake would do to southern Illinois and how they can prepare. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency hosted a summit Tuesday in Carterville for representatives of 19 local disaster management offices. A federal report on planning for an earthquake along the New Madrid fault estimates a 7.7 magnitude quake could take 3,500 lives and displace over 7 million people. It would cause $300 billion in direct economic losses within an eight-state area. Indirect losses would be twice that much.