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Seismic St. Louis

Emily Sekine
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I'm interested in better understanding the ongoing geological processes that shape St. Louis and the Mississippi Valley region. So far, I've been looking into the history of seismicity in the region, focusing on the fascinating but little known history of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 -- the most devastating earthquakes to have hit the US east of the Rockies. I've also been exploring how St. Louis and surrounding areas are dealing with the possibility of another earthquake occurring in the future. According to one article I read, one of the biggest uncertainties is what would happen to the heavily engineered Mississippi River in the case of another major tremblor. The shaking could break the levees, flooding wide areas along the river and creating cascading effects. The flow of the river might also reverse completely, as occurred during the New Madrid earthquakes.

On these possibilities and the lack of scientific consensus surrounding intraplate seismicity in this zone, see this article in The Atlantic.

On current efforts to create earthquake hazard maps in St. Louis, see this overview on the US Geological Survey site.

For a deeper dive into the history of the New Madrid earthquakes, see this book by historian of science Conevery Bolton Valencius. 

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Alexi Martin
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Andrew Lakoff studies anthropology and sociology at USC. He has studied science and medicine around the world. He is interested in the implications of biomedical innovations. Stephen Collier studies anthropology and has published on infrastructure and social welfare. They are both professionally equipped  to talk about this topic because they study humans and human interactions.

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Alexi Martin
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The policy has been recieved positively by the public. Many people believe remembering 9/11 is more than a memory. It is something so drastic that affected the entire country. So everyone felt it needed to be enacted into law. The public was estatic about continuing support for innocent people who lost their lives due to the actions of others.

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Alexi Martin
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The main findings presented in the article is the lack of recovery in the New Orleans after Katrina and the factors that did not cause a complete rebuild. The article discusses what happened to the poor, how the residents were treated and the lack of government funding to the city- due to the levee needing to be rebuilt. The article also discusses the mental health of those who experienced Katrina and the stress that radiated from it. The article also discusses private businesses that have thrived in lieu of those who need homes, aid and basic necessities.

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Alexi Martin
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It brings people/organizations to face the hiding problem and improve because seeing actual statistics and the reality of what happened makes people want to act. Facts cause people to realize what had not occured, so the improper handling of hospital/evacuations will never happen again-people lost their lives. The government will realize they need to have more personalle available, as well as supplies and to control how their personalle treat others. Katrina shaped how emergency medical care works today, as every disaster is a teaching method of what to do and not to do in the future.

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Alexi Martin
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  1. “Studies of traumatic event experience have shown that most people who experience an event do not develop psychopathology”

“The field of disaster mental health has strong roots in research on the mental health consequences of war, specifically stemming from the experiences of WWI, WWII and the holocaust.”

“Some studies have observed increases in the use of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes after disaster and some evidence shows that disaster victims use substances, particularly alcohol as a coping strategy.”

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Alexi Martin
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The main findings of this article include the discrepancy of actual health issues and its surfacing in the government. The article explores post-Soviet Union Ukraine and discovers the backbone of its economy consists of disability healthcare for those affected by radiation. The struggle to survive without an illness on a  bare economy where government funds help those who may be damamged by radiation and ignore the rest of the population.