The New Madrid Fault, which runs through Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, also has insurers worried. According to the Insurance Information Institute, there’s a 40 to 63 percent chance the region will suffer an earthquake with a 6.0 magnitude in the next 15 years. The availability of earthquake coverage has become an issue in some regions of those states. For those who don’t remember, which would include anyone not alive in 1811, an earthquake struck the New Madrid area with enough force to change the course of the Mississippi river and ring church bells on the east coast.

The potential magnitude of a catastrophic New Madrid quake dictates that we approach the preparedness on a regional basis,” says W.R. Padgett, board chairman of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium. “No one state can possibly begin to address all the issues.

Although few have registered as noticeable to the average citizen, More than 30 earthquakes occurred in Ohio between 2002 and 2007, and more than 200 quakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or higher have occurred since 1776.

The most substantial known earthquake in Ohio history was the Anna (Shelby County) earthquake, which occurred on March 9, 1937. It was centered in western Ohio, and had a magnitude of 5.4, and was of intensity VIII.

Other significant earthquakes in Ohio include: one of magnitude 4.8 near Lima on September 19, 1884; one of magnitude 4.2 near Portsmouth on May 17, 1901; and one of 5.0 in LeRoy Township in Lake County on January 31, 1986, which continued to trigger 13 aftershocks of magnitude 0.5 to 2.4 for two months.

The most recent earthquake in Ohio of any appreciable magnitude occurred on January 8, 2008, at 8:34:46 PM local time. It had a magnitude of 3.1, and its epicenter was under Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland, approximately 9.7 km (6 mi) west of Mentor-on-the-Lake.

The Earthquake Education Center at Charleston Southern University claims there’s a 40 to 60 percent chance of a major earthquake somewhere in the eastern United States in the next 20 years. That has prompted the South Carolina Insurance News Service to recommend residents of that state consider purchasing earthquake policies.