Reply #10: Maybe so, but

[emmadoggy]

I find this little tidbit to be quite interesting (and scary)

Although earthquakes in the central and eastern United States are less frequent than in the western United States, they affect much larger areas. This is shown by two areas affected by earthquakes of similar magnitude-the 1895 Charleston, Missouri, earthquake in the New Madrid seismic zone and the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake. Red indicates minor to major damage to buildings and their contents. Yellow indicates shaking felt, but little or no damage to objects, such as dishes.

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/prepare/factsheets/NewMadrid/



Add to that, the fact that buildings in the Midwest are not constructed to the same earthquake standards, and many are older. Plus, they talk a lot about "soil liquification" with Midwest earthquakes, which sounds bad to me, lol.

See also: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php