E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Dan Callister / Getty Images file
Located just 50 miles off the coast, the 680-mile-long Cascadia fault has lain dormant for 300 years. When it wakes, it could trigger an earthquake and tsunami similar to the one that struck Japan today.
As the world tunes in to the disaster following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan today — and with waves rattling nerves along the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii — a question rises to the fore: Could such a disaster happen here?
The short answer is yes. It already has. Major quakes of a similar style rupture along the 680-mile-long Cascadia subduction zone, a fault that runs from Northern California to British Columbia, every few hundred years. They trigger tsunami waves reaching up to 15 feet high that hit the shore about 10 to 15 minutes later.
The fault last ruptured in 1700 – a magnitude-9 event that sent tsunami waves crashing into Japan. Experts believe it is a matter of when, not if, the next one will happen, according to Brian Atwater, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington and an expert on the 1700 event.
"There's no reason to question the history here," he told me today.
Recent computer simulations of a hypothetical magnitude-9 quake on the Cascadia subduction zone found that shaking could last two to five minutes, strong enough to collapse poorly constructed buildings and damage highways and bridges. Powerful tsunami waves could rush ashore minutes later, potentially devastating coastal communities.
The threat is greatest along the northern part of the West Coast. Caltech seismologist Kate Huttontold MSNBC today that Southern California doesn’t have subduction zones like the Cascadia fault.
According to calculations by Chris Goldfinger, a geologist at Oregon State University, there's an 80 percent chance that the portion of the fault off southern Oregon and Northern California would break in the next 50 years. The odds are lower — 27 percent for the same time period — for Washington state and Canada's Vancouver Island.
"People try to compute these earthquake weather forecasts by taking into account 300 years have passed since the last one and the fault has been busy putting money in the bank to spend on the next earthquake," Atwater explained. "So the more time that passes, the better the car the fault can buy."
Even though authorities have been aware of the risk for years, the Pacific Northwest is not adequately prepared, according to geotechnical engineer Yumei Wang of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.
"People are in a really dangerous position," Wang told Discovery News in 2009. "This is going to happen, and it's going to have really bad ramifications unless we do something."
She has proposed building a series of tsunami shelters up and down the coast. As well, work is ongoing to shore up schools, hospitals and other buildings. Similar efforts are under way in Seattle, Brian Gaff of the city's Office of Emergency Management, told the AP.
Part of the problem is that scientific knowledge about the Cascadia subduction zone is way out in front of public policy, laws and building codes, Edward Wolf, a private consultant and writer in Oregon who works closely Wang, told me today.
"It's analogous to climate change. The science is considerably ahead of public awareness and policy response," he said.
To date, attention has been put into mapping tsunami inundation zones, plotting evacuation routes and preparing signage to inform people about the risk. "But there are still some low-lying coastal areas with difficult access to evacuation that would be difficult to impossible to evacuate in the event of an earthquake," he said.
Proposals such as Wang's for shelters that can withstand tsunami waves have been floated. Another idea is to construct large earthen mounds that are high enough and accessible enough to serve as a tsunami refuge in regions such as southwest Washington's Long Beach Peninsula. None of these proposals has been funded.
Although the risk for an earthquake and tsunami like the one in Japan is very real for the West Coast, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that today's temblor will trigger a quake on the Cascadia subduction zone. But, as Atwater emphasized, "It's not a matter of if, but when, the next one will happen."
Related stories:
- Tsunami threat looms over Pacific Northwest
- Pacific Northwest overdue for big one
- Pacific Northwest at risk for a mega quake
- Tsunami awes even the experts
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
What happened when Huracane Catrina hit was fortold and no one did anything. The same will hgappen with the earthquake that will hit the west with more catastrophic consequences. We are not proactive; we are reactive.
natural selection.....
The New Madrid fault is not the only intercontinental fault in the USA. But because it is not the type of fault that is between two major plates, it has a significantly reduced risk of another 6.0+ quake. According to the United States Geological Survey's recent fact sheet on the New Madrid fault the risk is less than 10%. However, having said that, with the significant number of people living just behind the dikes along the Mississippi River, if it were to go, we would see a disaster that would drawf Katrina. Why do we let people live in flood plains?
Differnet, we "let" people live in flood plains because of property rights. The real question to ask is why anyone would "choose" to live in a flood plain.
Sally, flood insurance is almost exclusively provided by governments because regular insurance companies won't sell insurance to people living in flood plains. Therefore, it is WE who allow it, because it is our tax dollars that are the back up to the insurance.
The New Madrid fault has been lessening activity over the years. We're in more danger from volcanic activity in Yellowstone than New Madrid.
It seems the quakes have moved to the central part of Arkansas... over the last 6 months more that 2000 quakes have occurred... and slowly getting stronger.
Did you know there is a fault under NYC? Did you know that northern New England, there is a fault?
Okay, the question is NOT where is there a fault-line, but rather where is THERE NOT a fault-line???
Following that, of those locations, where are there NO flood zones?
Following that, of those locations, where are there tornado-free zones?
Following that, of those locations, where are there hurricane-free zones?
Following that, of those locations, where are there mudslide/avalanche-free zones?
Oh, we found it: It's on the moon....
:-/
BOTTOMLINE: EVERYWHERE IS HOME TO SOME DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN...
One of the big issues with the New Madrid Seismic Zone is that people and cities are less prepared than the peoples and cities of more active areas. Memphis, TN did not require earthquake reinforcement in structures until 1991 (if I remember correctly), whereas California cities have been doing so much longer. Many homes in the mid-south are constructed of unreinforced masonry, which is less than ideal during a seismic event.
Here is the reference, the IRIS Seismic Monitor: http://www.iris.edu/dms/seismon.htm
"Could a big quake happen here? Yes"
It's a shame such a question is even needed to be asked. As if, as Americans, we are somehow exempt from catastrophic natural disasters. I mean, yes ... we American's love to believe we are special little creatures.
But, we are the same primate species occupying the same space and time as the other primates living in this world. Personally, my greater worry is the super volcano that resides under Yellowstone. If that were to go ... we not only go, but a large portion of the world as well.
On a side note, my thoughts go out to Japan. Such a tragedy.
My thoughts, exactly. Sometimes the way the news is portrayed here, it's almost as if we're looking at a disaster movie and/or ...oh, my, those poor, unfortunate people, that could never happen to us!
that's always the way the news is portrayed here, even if it's a homicide in your hometown it's something that could never really happen to you because you know as a hip msnbc reader, you'd, you know, fend off the perpetrator with your texting skills or some moves you learned in that martial arts class at the gym. The main theme of msnbc is, sure there's a ton of bad @!$%# happening in the world, but nothing bad enough that Lohan, Sheen, Bieber, Idol, NFL, etc shouldn't get the lion-share of your attention. Which makes sense because NBC is a corporately funded entertainment television network, and stimulating intellectual activity or social change is NOT acceptable let alone a priority. We have a publicly funded tv news-source, PBS, which is being threatened with losing it's federal funding. Maybe we should be concerned about that
Agreed
Yes we need to stop the cuts to PBS and NPR - but we also need to stop the assault on education, the EPA as well as the funding to the Emergency Warning Systems that like the Japanese system helped to prevent things from being even worse. Currently, the house has already cut spending for any early warning systems, but also trying to cut the legs out from under the EPA.
They can't go after the federal educational funding, so they've gone after all the states that they've 'taken over' in the last election. Now we are seeing who these people work for - and it isn't the people!
If we don't do something soon this will be the United Corporations Investment Haven - not the United States of America. We will be the labor force of the Corporations, we will have no rights, we will have only what we can pry away from the company at a price. The country will be run by the Repu-Corp executives and the Far Right fanatics who will try to force a sub-theocracy into the new govt role.
I hope that we can rise to the occasion and do as our ancestors would have done - fight for our freedom and our right to a true democracy. This country may end up in another revolution which will end when the country splits into separate territories - independently governed and very blue or red.
Hopefully my family can escape before that fight happens...some are too young to be dragged into that political chaos. I need to focus on making sure they've somewhere safe to grow up. Just like every parent wants for their children...
We are not so different - are we...
I hate the cuts to EPA and would never support them. Cuts to the awash with cash status of the mostly political organization NOAA are needed as they are wasting tons of money not doing science and killing jobs. NOAA can accomplish their core mission and a lot more if they put their assets to better use. They are a hog fat government organization. JJ
The government should not dictate where people live. It is an individual choice. But when people choose to live in natural disaster proned areas, they must understand the risks that are associated with living in those areas. Insurance companies have rightly chosen to not provide insurance coverage in many high risk areas, as the risk of loss is simply too great. The government should do the same. People who choose to live in these high risk areas should do so with the understanding that they will have to assume the sole responsibility of loss from natural disasters.
Philip - It has nothing to do with being a "hip" MSNBC reader and everything to do with this sense of American exceptionalism that is just getting stronger by the day -- that we as Americans are somehow special by the very fact that we were born here. Just ask Sarah Palin or any of her friends and she'll be more than happy to tell you all about how America is exceptional in every way and if you don't believe her, you're no real American (note: dripping with sarcasm). This is not an MSNBC issue, or even a Fox News issue (at least not entirely). It is also simple human nature to distance one's self from danger and calamity. How could you live a productive life if you were always focused on the reality that any bad thing that happens to anyone anywhere could some day happen to you? As for the other BS that gets reported on this site -- it is no different if you go to other "news" sites these days. It is part of the culture. If you don't like it (and I don't, so I'm not at all defending it), talk to your friends and neighbors because their interest is what keeps celebrity nonsense in the spotlight. The thing I DO like about MSNBC is that in addition to the requisite pop-culture cr@p, they have a wide variety of real news, too. Entertainment is only one of the sub-menus.
Don't come on here and pretend like you are so much better than the average, pop-culture zombie you think frequents MSNBC when commenting on an MSNBC story. Seems a tad hypocritical, don't you think?
I've already got 100 gallons of water, and 3 months supply of dehydrated food buried in my yard. Along with 3 5 gallon tanks of propane, a cooking stove, medical supplies, tent, solar phone charger, sleeping bags, bullet proof vest, guns and ammo. Luck favors the prepared!
Luck favors the prepared... For your sake I hope that nothing will cover that spot in your yard when a big quake hits.
Can I bunk with you?
Deemo (and everyone else too): good idea but make sure to rotate your water and/or even dried supplies. Even cryovac packing doesn't completely stop the disintegration of products over a long time period---unbury em and replace them periodically. Stagnant water can and will make you sick...dysentary leaps to mind.
God forbid when disaster like japan occours ,bullet trains,cars,big boats nothing is safe,u think food supplies that u have saved will be saved that day?
Do you also have an excavation tool in case tons of debris are washed into your yard?
Big mistake telling anyone that you have it. Now you will have to protect it from those who don't.
Billrh is right -- my emergency preparations consisted of Google Maps directions to your house, and hand grenades.
Don't forget TP, toothpaste and deodorant!!! Might as well get some room freshener too for that bunker. And some games too.
Im glad to see that im not the only one preparing for a disaster, but your going to need a hell of alot more supplies, not including basic survival skills, and skills for starting your life over, Good Luck bc when the sh@t hits the fan, we will all need a little luck. stock up on supplies now, time is running out, just bought 40,000 survival seeds, enough to seed 5-10 acres, growing time around 6 weeks, with enough food for 4 people to last me 6 months and 500 acres of private land that borders the quachita mnts in Arkansas, plenty of deer and other wild game. people may think im crazy, thats when I laugh and think to myself "they are the crazy ones not being prepared"
Jonboy,
How long would your "private" land be private if everyone followed your form of preparedness? You wouldn't really want that many people to follow your path because there is not enough private land, enough deer and game to go around for the entire population. Sound pretty darn selfish and arrogant to me. Glad you think your better than everyone else. Hope that makes you feel warm and fuzzy when the world doesn't end in your lifetime and you realize what you missed out on. I'm not calling you crazy... I just hope for your sake you are living a life worth living while you wait for the end to come.
LOL Im just saying that if the sh@t hit the fan i have enough supplies to last a while, maybe i wont ever need it, but at least its there for me. And yes my private land would be very hard to keep private, but in a situation of trying to survive I would welcome anyone who could contribute to the survival of our species. and aactually there is over a million deer alone just in Arkansas not including small game, and the state with the most man made lakes for fishing. I never said i was better than anyone else, you said that. so stop hating on me. And yes my life is filled with happieness and hope for our future, im only this prepared for my family, so stop being a hater.
I live in Southern California about 30 minutes from Hollywood. We are way over due to the San Andreas faultline to go. It is only a matter of time. I lived thru the Northridge Quake that wasnt the "Big One" it is yet to come.
People are stupid, after a quake they are all concerned and stock up and get prepared but then it falls by the way side and they get back to their old routine. Anyhow the one good thing about disasters in the USA is it has a habit of resetting humanities priorities to where we all help each other sometimes at the risk of our own selves.
Too bad our mentalities cannot get stuck that way.
yeah, cali is way past due for a HUGE quake..... should be interesting to see what happen when it does.....

Well said, Fanny
 
Really! Are some people really that ignorant, that this question would have to be answered by MSN. Is America really ignorant, that they believe this could not happen to them?
No, American's know. We even have a nasty one in the Mid-West down in New Madrid, Missouri. Gonna rock us to the ground when it cuts loose. Be prepared to improve your chances of living, but if it's your time, it's your time.
Nice for MSN to act like we're idiots, isn't it?
Best wishes and heartfelt sympathy to the good folks in Japan.
I don't see it that way. MSN isn't insulting our intelligence. I see it as a gentle head's up to get prepared--without creating chaos and panic. I've been predicting quakes for yrs; writing articles about 'em in a book/articles since the '80s, and I don't have all my ducks in a row. Anyone on the West Coast, New Madrid Zone (seven states), Pacific Ring of Fire...and almost everyone needs to get it together. Just watched a man on CNN in Japan that has no water, no electricity, no food but he survived. Still, he's on his own. It could happen to me and to you.
www.calorey.com
According to the Tennessee History teacher I had in school, if the New Madrid fault were to go off full force, it could possibly cause part of the Southeast US to nearly be split off from the rest of the country. I don't have a clue where he got his information from & I don't know if that could quite happen, but it sure must've caused 1 hell of an earthquake in 1812 for the Mississippi River to temporarily flow north & to have caused the formation of Reelfoot Lake!
Mississippi River ran backward in 1812
I love history teachers, but I would not get my geology facts or knowledge from them. LMAO
it'll happen sometime before 12/2012
ok...it has nothing to do with 2012. Mother nature is absolutely unpredictable for the most part. Especially with these faults. Mother nature does not care what year nor month it is. It will happen with out much warning. I live in California, born and raised. I have been through many earthquakes and there is no warning as to when they will happen. So please just be prepared and leave that 2012 theory alone once and for all.
p.s i would recommend reading up on that whole 2012 if you are really worried. Its not really about the end of the world.
*sigh* The Aztec ran out of room on their stone. Is that reallly how you want to plan your life, based upon the hieroglyphs of an ancient people? Look, I'm 51 years old and as I've pointed out to my daughter, just in my life time, I've heard that the world as we know it was going to end at least 50 times. Sorry, but if I ran around planning on the world to end each time a doomsday book came out, I would be in a constant state of near panic.
The Aztecs simply forgot to 'carry the three' in their calculations...Had they done that, they would have known that the end of the world is actually 2036, not 2012...Or was it 2029?
:-)
"Don't forget to bring a towel!"
-Towely, from South Park
It was 2002. You missed it.
Godzilla Returns!
I'm waiting for the conspiracy theorist to blame it on their favorite boogie man. I say the Spanish Inquistion did it. Why the Spanish Inquisition? No one expectes the Spanish Inquisition.
 I don't consider myself an expert by any means but things allong the ring of fire are making me very nervous. First major earthquake in Chille then New Zealand then Chille and New Zealand again add in increased activity at Kilauea volcano and now this, Makes me feel uneasy about the west coast. I can't help but feel this is somehow all connected.
It IS all connected. The Pacific Rim is basically a circle of volcanoes surrounding a series of rather large geological fault lines. It has always been a seismically active region and always will be regardless of the kind of car you drive or whether they build windmills or solar panels or nuke plants or not.
Deemo2034081,
You had better unbury your food and water and put up high on a hill somewhere close to your home. After the earthquake plan for the tsunami hit
And also be prepared to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights. You don't honestly think the phones will be working after an event like this do you? And if they do, do you really believe the police will come to your aid and protect you when hungry men and women invade your home to take all the food and water you hoarded for yourself? Those that do not defend will be stepped on...and be a victim...Just sayin...
 The Pacific coastal communities aren't the only people that should keep eyes on plate techtonics. There is a funny little island in the La Palma (off the coast of Africa) that is in a precarious position. The hillsides/mountainsides are not very solid. A slight shift in volcanic/plate activity will loosen these hillsides and send them into the Atlantic. Just like the recent Japanese earthquake that lifted the Pacific Ocean by 20-30ft and crashing down again thus producing the tsunami, so , too, will be if an entire mountainside collapses into the sea. A tsunami with proportions the Pacific Rim nations have yet to experience will wipe out much of the east coast of America and the Caribbean islands.
http://wet.kuleuven.be/wetenschapinbreedbeeld/lesmateriaal_geologie/wardday-lapalmatsunami.pdf
Again, I ask, why do we let people live in flood plains?
Yeah, my mom, who worries about everything, has already informed me about that one. There's no higher ground to go to in FL except the landfills, and we're on the East coast. Guess I'll meet you guys in the Gulf of Mexico if that tsunami happens...
Used to live in the New Madrid zone, as some have called it. One year they actually closed schools for a few days in Memphis b/c some guy had predicted the Big One to hit one of those days. (I didn't live in Memphis, but I heard about it.) Memphis was the first thing I thought of after this quake in Japan-how the Japanese are so prepared for quakes and how Memphis, though they are trying, is not.
We in FL have had a type of Big One when we had Cat 5 Hurricane Andrew in 1992. I was here, and it was horrible. Though we did not actually wind up in the disaster zone (It was pretty small), we had evacuated in advance of the storm. The evacuation itself took 13 hours when it should have taken 8 b/c every place was full. Cars were at a crawl. People were actually stopping on the side of the turnpike and going to the bathroom out in the open b/c there was nowhere else to do it. Finally, at 3am we sneaked our dog like a football into the only place with an available room. Afterwards the news showed coverage nonstop, and the anchors themselves had no hot water or power or anything. They would literally break down sobbing on the air. Almost everyone we knew who wasn't working went to Homestead daily to help give out water and clothing to refugees-I couldn't go because I had a young baby and it wouldn't have been safe; and I felt incredibly guilty that I wasn't down there helping.
We have moved further north since then, but we did take a direct hit from Hurricane Wilma in 2005. She removed roofs from a number of buildings nearby; destroyed part of a trailor park near us, wrapping the pieces around trees on the other side of the road; took out most traffic signals; destroyed almost all screened enclosures; ripped off tiles from houses; destroyed piers; and apparently defeated an exterior wall and some interior walls in some condo on the beach. She also ripped some of our hurricane shutters right off the house! Power was out for most people for weeks. I'm more concerned about that than a tsunami right now.
Of course this is nowhere near what the people of Japan are going through right now! Nor is it near to what the Pacific Northwest would experience if that fault ruptured. If a big tsunami from Africa hits here, I don't think there will be enough high places for everyone-even if buildings are used. There likely won't be enough time to get off the peninsula, either. So, I'll look to the skies and smile-and meet you in the Gulf.
seen too much, I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Orlando during Andrew. One those ugly bands hit while we were visiting Christmas, FL, and the surrounding area. My parents were supposed to take a steamship ride on St. Johns river (?).
Anyways. The problem is traffic. Everyone will want to take their vehicles. The tsunami would hit within 8-10 hours of the landslide. Can you imagine getting Boston, NYC, DC, Philly, Atlantic City, Baltimore all evacuated within 10 hours? It would be chaotic. Why? No one would want to abandon their vehicles.
It wouldn't need to be that bad. The tsunami would possibly be 50 ft high - nearly double of the Japanese tsunami - and flood everything within 20 miles of shore (depending on elevation and tide, etc.). If you could get NYC residents into the Poconos they'd be safe. If you could get MA to open up tolls (good luck, taxachusetts) and ship them west to the Berkshires, they'd be ok. NH would only have to head to Manchester or so. Montreal might be affected too but more from a storm surge type of event up the St. Lawrence. Further south, where it is flatter for much longer distance inland, I don't know.
I heard about the three men who were overcome by the waves on the Oregon Coast. One didn't make it. Stay safe in Oregon and Washington.
Take care in Seattle, Alan.
I get a little nervous living so close to the Cascadia fault line, we have had a few minor quakes over the past years, nothing to major yet, but sure rattled the nerves !
They were overcome by the waves, because they didn’t heed the authorities and stay off the beach! was a life really worth the pictures they wanted?
No, pictures aren't worth it but we all make mistakes. I think we're called human.
pretty big price to pay = big mistake.
It is a mistake when you do something you cannot expect to be a problem. They tried to commit suicide (one succeeded). They risked the lives of the rescue personnel for selfish reasons. They should be made to pay the costs.
I don't live in California, Hawaii Oregon or Japan. I can't do anything about an earthquake so for these reasons I am not going to worry about it.
While everyone is focused on the west coast, St. Louis Mo. sits on a very large fault. That one too is only a mater of time.
And there is a fault line near New York City. Actually, there is one in New York around 125th street.
They had a major quake in 1884. When will the next occur?
If California, god forbid, was to experience The BIG ONE..and most of the state west of the fault line disappears into the Big Blue...would the state be able to renege (percentage-wise) on their astronomical debt? You know,, a third of the state goes... so does a third of the debt.
If California or any large portion the West Coast 'slipped' into the Pacific, the waves that reached Hawaii, Australia, Japan and essentially anywhere on the Pacific rim would be something on the order 1,000 feet high or more. The economic and physical devastion would be global and immediate death would claim hundreds of millions.
As for uncountable quadrillions of tons of West coast coming loose, We are much more likely to be impacted by a space object like that one that contributed to the dinosaurs checking out. The good news is that the California splash would not have the 10,000 degree temperatures and air blast of a meteor impact.
From the day that you are conceived, the universe launches on a pogrom directed at killling YOU. Accept this. So far Cosmic indifference is batting a thousand.
There is an endless rattle from 'people' wailing things like: "why are we seeing so many earthquakes, Hurricanes, volcanoes, floods and (insert favorite disaster here)"? The answer is simple, and rational people know it. We see all of this stuff so often now because every one has a camera or six and instant access to the entire planet. So many people are being killed because there are now so many, many people. Given time (a lot of time) every disaster will hit every spot on the planet.
The 1908 Tunguska impact would have utterly destroyed any city and some countries on the planet. By Cosmic Indifference the object detonated over one of the most sparsely populated areas on the Earth. The 1815 Tambora Volcanic eruption killed untold thousands, but few people in Europe knew anything about the eruption until nearly six months later. Tambora changed the weather(badly) and created beautiful sunsets around the world. A few paintings survive but very few photos.
Can it happen here,? Of course! It can and will. It is no one's fault. No one is responsible. The lawyers can't sue. Crack pot religious nuts and conspiracy theorists will spring up, gather their believers, relieve them of burdensome assets. Some will preach ritual castration of themselves and commit suicide, others will convince simple young Americans to ritual murder of innocents, other mad, fake shamans will flee to a god-forfsaken jungle, again mass suicide and murder.
Every human being on this planet is psychotic and believes irrational gobbledygook. Society forces large numbers of these raving lunatics together and somehow this interaction creates eddies and counterbalancing flows that level out the individual craziness so that things can get done. Sometimes these forces build inspiring structures and breathtaking works of beauty. Just as often groups get together to form alliances to inflict unimaginable pain, horror and death on innocent neighbors.
At least the natural disasters are the product of the church of god the Utterly Indifferent.
Could'nt have said it better myself...You took the words right out of my mouth. Too many
crazies waiting to take advantage of the "ready to panic"
...next tremors will be in vicinity of Aleyeska aka Alaska....based on the current quake Pacific ocean tracking history....stay tuned......
I agree with Chad. If Yellowstone blows, we can all "assume the position."
We already have had a modern quake bigger than Japan's. Southcentral Alaska in 1964. Major damage to Anchorage and complete loss of coastal communities to tsunamis. Only 13 died from the quake, but over a hundred died in the tsunamis including an entire village. Would that happen today, up the count to thousands. If that happened to Seattle and Puget Sound produced a wave, tens of thousands. It's only a matter of time.
We already have had a modern quake bigger than Japan's. Southcentral Alaska in 1964. Major damage to Anchorage and complete loss of coastal communities to tsunamis. Only 13 died from the quake, but over a hundred died in the tsunamis including an entire village. Would that happen today, up the count to thousands. If that happened to Seattle and Puget Sound produced a wave, tens of thousands. It's only a matter of time.
In 1964 the Good Friday earth quake did damage in Alaska for thousands of miles, it measured 9.2 on the richter scale in terms of TNT that is 946 mega-tons of energy. It was the second largest Earthquake ever recorded.
The ground liquefied. The tidal wave created badly damaged the town I am from Kodiak Ak. and many other villages and towns along the Alaska peninsula. The loss of life was minimal due to the lack of population at the epicenter. Every wednesday at 2 pm. a siren goes off in the town of Kodiak both as a test and to keep the residents aware of the sound of the Tidal wave warning. It is audible for miles around.
There are plenty of Americans that are very aware of the fact that such an event can happen here. There is no method of construction and no plan of response that can prepare any place on the planet for an earthquake of a 9 or greater magnitude. If a 9.2 hit Seattle there would be people buried in rubble in Portland Oregon. JJ
YES it will happen here but WHO cares, we are just running around looking for FEMA .