What you need to know about the recent earthquake and how to prepare

February 13, 2025

Brooklyn Kent,

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JACKSON, Tenn.– We have more information on what happened regarding the earthquake from Thursday morning.

We spoke with Dr. Stan Dunagan a professor at the University of Tennessee at Martin about the science of earthquakes and if residents should be concerned.

“I always tell my students it’s kind of like an old sports injury. Where you got a part of the body that’s injured and for a minute have already been healed but if you apply stress you can re injure that portion or re-damage that injured part,” shares Dr. Dunagan.

Dunagan is a professor of Geology at UTM.

Jackson sits near one of the major earthquake faults lines in the U.S., the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

“This is a good reminder for people to be like “Hey we live in an area that could have big earthquakes what do I need to do. What kind of information do I need to get and what can I do to start preparing for that,” added Dr. Dunagan.

Some items to stock up on would be non-perishables foods, water, medication, and other necessities.
These items can also be used in case of other non preventable natural disasters.

“Once we start to get up to say we have a magnitude 3 or 4. People could start to see a little damage, cracks and things, and once you start to get up to a 4 or 5 you get greater potential for things to fall off walls and tip over. Then you start to having the potential for not only damage but injuries and then it gets on worse once you move up the magnitude scales,” says Dr. Dunagan.

Since this earthquake was a 2.6 on the Richter scale, this is a reminder that a major earthquake is possible for west Tennessee residents.

“We get significantly more energy released. So, we tend to think well that’s a 2 or that’s a three that’s a 4. But actually its an exponential increase of energy release. People need to pay attention this is a good earthquake to have, one that catches people’s attention. Reminds them that we are in an area where earthquakes can occur or have occurred in the past,” says Dr. Dunagan.