Am I geologist? No. Did I take several geology courses in my life? Yes. The geology of the west coast and the east coast are different. The Rockies are among the younger of mountain ranges on the planet. The Appalachians, actually, the oldest. What lay between, is an ancient sea. My brain isn't what it used to be. Do us all a favor and do some research on your own. Then you can tell the group how you got your factual ass kicked by a man with a man who actually DOES have half his brain tied behind his back.
Later.
I did do research on my own. That New Madrid area is dangerous. I'm not quite sure what the argument is.
I think we were talking past each other. You were emphasizing the sediment/liquefaction. I was emphasizing the building precautions, to minimize damages.
A reason why I turned to the building structural aspect, is that I have lived in an area which takes periodic earthquakes for granted; we get them, and have taken steps to reduce the damage.
I'm not trying to compete, about the level of knowledge, or which areas are the more dangerous. I took exactly one geology class.
--My mother lived in Whittier during the Long Beach quake of 1933, and told us about it. 120 people died in that one.
--I passed through Yellowstone as a kid (and the Madison River), weeks before the 1959 Hegben Lake quake. (My father grew up near Yellowstone, and we were visiting my grandparents.) 28 people died.
--I felt the 1971 San Fernando quake. 64 people died.gen
--I felt the 1987 Whittier Narrows quake. 8 people died.
--I felt the 1994 Northridge quake. 57 people died.
I missed the 1906 San Francisco quake but 3000 people died. In 1991 the Loma Prieta quake killed 63 people.
I know about liquefaction. I live on it. I live a few miles from the Newport-Inglewood Fault, the source of the nearby 1933 Long Beach quake. I am in deep trouble if we have a major Tsunami, and if we have another quake on the Newport-Inglewood.
In this case the liquefaction is due to sediment which was laid down by rivers, in this case the Santa Ana, San Gabriel and Los Angeles rivers. The result over geologic time is a coastal alluvial plain.
Coastal alluvial plains occur when rivers travel to the sea, on the East Coast and on the West Coast.
Along the coast in my county, there are both alluvial plains, and outcroppings of bedrock. The Mississippi Valley is an alluvial plain.
Whether the formations are older, or younger makes little difference, in terms of outcomes. The San Andreas Fault is the most studied in the world.
If lives can be saved by improved building practices in the New Madrid area, that is a good thing. I have no idea of the relative population of the area. In the case of California, over 30 million people live near the San Andreas zone.
In the United States, the greatest loss of life from quakes has been in California, Alaska, and Hawaii.
The US is joined by several other areas of the world, for serious earthquake risks. Japan, Chile, Mexico to name a few on the Pacific Rim of Fire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Deadliest_earthquakes_by_US_stateAnd this on quake damage to buildings, and methods of mitigating the damage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_engineering 
