@JMvS - It's true that the entire world has minor earthquakes every year, I just felt it was notable to point out the one in the Chicago area because scientists believe that the fault near New Madrid is shutting down and the one in Wabash Valley may be becoming more active as the pressure in the plates shifts. The entire region is densely populated, way more than it was back in the 1800's, but there are very few educational materials about what to do when an earthquake hits.
Since so many people associate earthquakes with California there's not as much of a focus on the Midwest region. However an earthquake in the Midwest of significant magnitude could be crippling for the country, possibly devastating. In the last decade, there's been three noticeable earthquakes in the region, including a 5.2 back in 2008. I doubt we should be in a mad rush to prepare the region for "the big one", but I do support more awareness and scientific investigation of the region considering how poorly prepared we were for something like Katrina, which we knew in advance would be hitting the Gulf Coast.
On a related note, I wish this got more press too:
http://www.sioux.org/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_438827.html