Congressman Cohen Announces U.S. Geological Survey Grant to the University of Memphis

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a member of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, today announced that the University of Memphis' Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) will receive a $675,000 grant from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The funding supports CERI's cooperative agreement with USGS in operating the Advanced National Seismic System.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

"The University of Memphis Center for Earthquake Research and Information is one of the university's Centers of Excellence and its work is known and studied around the world. I'm proud that it is receiving this grant funding and continuing to support the national research effort to understand earthquakes. In Memphis, we need to take preparation for ‘the big one' seriously."

Memphis is the largest big city close to the New Madrid fault that runs from Marked Tree, Arkansas, to Cairo, Illinois. When that fault slipped repeatedly between December 1811 and February 1812, the earthquakes were felt as far away as Boston, produced waterfalls on the Mississippi River and created Reelfoot Lake. The earthquakes destroyed the town of New Madrid, Missouri.