• The USGS puts the risk of a magnitude 7 earthquake in central U.S. at 10 percent
  • They predict it could happen within 50 years
  • The odds are higher for a magnitude 6 earthquake: 40 percent within 50 years
  • A quake is likely to originate at the New Madrid Fault in New Madrid, Missouri 
  • Emergency experts say homes and businesses are not well prepared for the risk 

Parts of the central U.S. are at risk of a devastating magnitude seven earthquake within the next 50 years, experts have warned, adding people aren’t prepared.

Experts have been predicting a magnitude 7 earthquake in the areas surrounding the New Madrid fault line in Missouri for decades. It covers an area including Memphis, Tennessee, as well as St. Louis, Indianapolis and Little Rock, Arkansas.

Despite 45 million people living within the danger zone, warnings have largely been ignored, said Robbie Myers, emergency management expert from the region.

The last major earthquakes from this fault happened in 1811 and 1812, centered near New Madrid in Missouri, ringing church bells as far away as South Carolina, causing farmland to sink into swamps, and make the Mississippi River to flow backward.

Mr Myers, director of emergency management for Butler County, Missouri, told AP the biggest problem is complacency, as it is over 100 years since the last quake.

If it were to hit today, in addition to thousands of deaths, bridges crossing the Mississippi River could fall, major highways including Interstate 55 could buckle, and oil and gas pipelines could break, causing nationwide disruptions, experts said.

There is a mixed picture when it comes to being prepared within reach of the fault, mainly due to most major earthquakes happening on the West Coast, where people in California are preparing for the ‘Big One’ which is 80 years overdue.

Central parts of the US are at risk of a devastating magnitude seven earthquake within the next 50 year, experts have warned, adding people aren't prepared

Hundreds of emergency managers, transportation leaders, geologists and others gathered Thursday in St. Louis, to discuss ways to improve preparations, looking at areas that have put procedures in place ‘just in case’ it happens.

Most of the earthquake preparation so far have been focused on California, which is about 80 years overdue for ‘The Big One’, a massive earthquake where tectonic plates slide past each other along the 800-mile long San Andreas fault.