PERRYVILLE, Mo. — A 2.4 magnitude earthquake shook the area 17 miles south of Perryville, Missouri around 4 p.m. Monday afternoon.

According to the St. Louis County Office of Emergency Management, the timing of this quake is significant.

On the same date in 1812 the second of three quakes hit the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The shaking from those quakes was felt 1,000 miles away in Boston, Massachusetts.

The probability of a magnitude 6.0 or larger earthquake occurring in the New Madrid seismic zone within any 50 year period is 25-percent to 40-percent.

The St. Louis County Office of Emergency Management says that a quake like that has the potential to triple the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.