New Madrid, Missouri Earthquakes Have Just Gone Viral on TikTok

Something very curious just happened. New Madrid, Missouri earthquakes have suddenly gone wildly viral on TikTok and they've taken me with them and that's not the strangest thing about this.

You might recall that last week I shared the news that the Missouri National Guard along with first responders just completed earthquake drills in St. Louis in preparation for a hypothetical New Madrid Fault event. Well, a popular guy on TikTok has taken that story and made it into a wildly viral thing. As of this writing, there are over 83,000 likes on TikTok.

For the record, I never said that a massive New Madrid quake would split the country in half although KSDK in St. Louis has done a story responding to this guy's video. I find this hilarious as I have never shared anything on TikTok yet I'm suddenly a household name thanks to this way more popular than me guy. I cannot stop laughing.

The data I shared in the original article is accurate. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources does say that there is between a 7 and 10% chance that a magnitude 7 or larger quake happening in the next 50 years and there's about a 1 in 4 chance we'll see a magnitude 6 or higher quake in that time span. All of that isn't wild speculation. It's based on real USGS data and forecasting, but earthquake estimates are based on history and frequency more than any guess about an imminent damaging quake.

This is an interesting look at how it's possible for someone to take a really not that exciting topic and make it super popular on social media. I am impressed with how that guy made this happen. Well played, sir.