Kentucky-- Earthquakes are probably not the first thing you think of when it comes to Western Kentucky.

But they happen, and more than people think.

"Probably almost everyday there are earthquakes recorded although many of them you would never feel standing there because they would get lost in the traffic and the wind and everything else.”

William Haneberg is the director of the Kentucky Geological Survey in Lexington.

“Most of these are very small magnitudes, magnitude 1 and  2…”

However, Haneberg says a large quake is possible along the New Madrid fault line. 

"For example a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in the New Madrid and depending on what time of day it occurred there could be about eight and half billion dollars in damages in Kentucky alone and 180 to 200 deaths.”

In 1811, an estimated 7.9 magnitude quake hit the region. A similar-sized quake struck the follow year. And this is why for the past 10 days, FEMA has been conducting full-scale exercises in Kentucky and surrounding states. Kentucky’s emergency management shared these photos, of training.

Operation Shaken Fury depicts a 7.7 magnitude earthquake scenario along the New Madrid seismic zone.

"We could see several thousand people hospitalized with injuries we could be treating, bridges could be out, water lines cut," said Haneberg.

FEMA'S partners include the American Red Cross, Earthquake County Alliance, members in the private sector and the Kentucky Geological Survey.

“The way the odds work it probably wont occur in my lifetime but when it does occur it will be very significant.”