An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 or greater would cause Katrina-like mass destruction in Southern Illinois - at least in the opinion of some.

"We're talking about Mother Nature," said Illinois Emergency Management Agency director William Burke. "(An earthquake) seven and above, you're talking about a major catastrophic event."

The New Madrid Fault has several branches, the most northern extending up to Cairo. However, the impact would most definitely be felt all the way through Southern Illinois up into East St. Louis, Burke said.

The area most likely would be devastated and could see the potential for fires, loss of roadways, bridges and other structures. It would be a difficult task for the area to take on, but Burke said response is being coordinated.

Each county has a plan and a coordinator in place, too.

Derek Misener, Jackson County emergency services coordinator, has a thick booklet that runs through just about every scenario dealing with emergency response.

If it were an earthquake, there is a procedure for handling power and lighting issues, priority search and rescue as well as finding shelter.

In Saline County, Allan Ninness, emergency services disaster agency coordinator, said there is a plan in place as well and there are several training sessions held so crews learn different ways to respond to different chemical fires or flooding.

"Floods, fires, tornadoes, we have a multi-hazard disaster plan," he said.

Misener said there are two mass casualty trailers in Southern Illinois - one in Massac County, the other in Jackson County - that have enough backboards and emergency kits to handle 100 patients at a time.

Still, officials said, planning is working off the hypothesis that something is actually going to happen, and emergency managers can't predict everything or handle everything that happens in their area.

"I don't think any one community is expected to have all their resources," Misener said.

Burke acknowledged that while Southern Illinois has response plans, it also has a lot of smaller communities without resources on hand.

Ninness said if he could, he would plan more. But with a county population of 27,000 people, funding is harder to come by.

"It would be nice to have more money to plan, more people to help do planning," he said.

But Burke said Southern Illinois would not be isolated. There are 43 hazardous material teams in the state. Research is being conducted by the University of Illinois using GIS mapping to figure out if certain roads are closed, where the next road is located or which hospitals are open and where helicopters can land, he said.

"It's not like Springfield would sit and watch the earthquake or Chicago would sit and watch the earthquake," he said.

Burke said these plans, booklets and chain of command are not set in stone and can easily be altered. But he hopes they won't be necessary.

"Hopefully the event won't come in my lifetime," Burke said. "But there will be a plan."

kristen.cates@thesouthern.com

618-529-5454 x5804