Building a house close to a fault is risky.  But how do you estimate the risk?  The likelihood of an earthquake of a certain magnitude in any given year is determined using long-term earthquake records.  The longer the record, the more reliable are the predictions of the earthquake frequencies.  Knowing the earthquake frequencies or recurrence intervals helps us develop communities in earthquake-prone areas.  For this exercise, you will act as the geological consultant hired by the town of New Madrid to determine earthquake frequencies and recurrence intervals of large earthquakes.  You will collect data from the Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) that has been analyzing earthquake activity in the New Madrid Seismic Zone and created a catalog of earthquakes since 1973.  You will use these data to make predictions regarding earthquake frequencies and recurrence intervals of large earthquakes.  These are the type of predictions made by geological consultants necessary for city planning and development.  This assignment is worth 30 points with point values indicated throughout the assignment.