The last earthquake of roughly magnitude 9 in the Pacific Northwest happened 75 years before the United States existed.
One day, possibly in the not-too-distant future, the Earth’s crust will again convulse in a megaquake. What will happen then will dwarf any natural disaster our country has ever experienced.
This week in the New Yorker, Kathryn Schulz, who lives in Oregon, scared the living bejeezus out of us by describing the aftermath of the coming Cascadia megathrust earthquake in gut-wrenching detail.
Think of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami that sparked the Fukushima disaster—only the Northwest is nowhere nearly as prepared as Japan was.
A word of caution if you read the article:
If you live in Seattle, you’ll probably find yourself wanting to sleep outside tonight.
Here’s a telling excerpt:
By the time the shaking has ceased and the tsunami has receded, the region will be unrecognizable. Kenneth Murphy, who directs FEMA’s Region X, the division responsible for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, says, “Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.”
Seattle’s excellent alternative weekly, the Stranger, emphasizes the main takeaways from the story: The earthquake will be really bad, the tsunami will be worse for many people, this event is now overdue, and the Northwest isn’t prepared for it.
So, how accurate is this doomsday scenario?
Did Schulz exaggerate any bits?
Should you start hoarding Tillamook cheese and Black Butte Porter?
Should we start a petition to the NFL to relocate the Seahawks to Omaha?..."
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