Surveys on earthquake awareness and preparedness will be conducted in the St. Louis metropolitan area, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and in Sikeston, Missouri. These investigations, in combination with two surveys that have already been conducted in the same geographic areas, will provide information concerning the trend in earthquake awareness and preparedness over a period extending from six weeks before until more than two years after the date on which Iben Browning predicted a major earthquake to occur on the New Madrid Fault. In addition to providing useful information on earthquake awareness and preparedness in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, the surveys will provide a unique opportunity to assess the longer-term effect of a failed psuedoscientific earthquake prediction on preparedness in an area identified as having a significant long-term earthquake risk.
