Researchers with the Mid-America Earthquake (MAE) Center (EEC 09701785), headquartered at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, have developed a model for assessing the economic losses in various regions of the country due to reductions in transportation network capabilities if a catastrophic earthquake occurs in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). The integrated model of transportation and economic activities developed by Professors Tschangho John Kim, David Boyce of UIUC and Geoffrey Hewings and Dr. Heejoo Ham of the University of Illinois, Chicago is based on the pioneering work by Leontief, a Nobel Prize winner, and Straus. Prior to the work of this team, the Leontief-Straus model had never been implemented because a solution algorithm had never been developed. Using the new methodology to estimate potential losses in the NMSZ, one scenario shows these losses to be $49.7 billion in commodity flows.