Home › Forums › Open Discussion › New Yorker article about the coming Cascadia earthquake
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July 14, 2015 at 7:24 pm #817916
transplantellaParticipantInteresting read.
From the article,
“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.”
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
July 14, 2015 at 8:27 pm #825862
JoBParticipanta report like this should be a head’s up..
but if we aren’t paying attention to a volcano on our doorstep it’s unlikely we will pay attention to this..
besides.. we’d never get past the traffic jam..
better hope that our high point is high enough
July 14, 2015 at 8:34 pm #825863
PangolinPieParticipantPersonally, I’m looking forward to finally owning some beachfront property!
Seriously, though; I’m kind of frightened at the thought of being trapped downtown if this happens. There are probably not going to be a lot of options to get to WS. I imagine walking from my workplace, either to the main bridge or the 1st Ave. bridge. You can bet I always have walking shoes with me in my backpack (and an emergency granola bar or two). But if it happens, it’s going to be a mess.
July 14, 2015 at 8:54 pm #825864
transplantellaParticipantJust bumped into an AMA on Reddit right now:
“We are earthquake experts. Ask us anything about The Really Big One coming for the Pacific Northwest.”
answering questions –
John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network
Debbie Goetz of Seattle’s Emergency Management Office
Sandi Doughton, science writer at The Seattle Times
and also discussing the New Yorker article.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3da1mh/we_are_earthquake_experts_ask_us_anything_about
July 14, 2015 at 8:57 pm #825865
PangolinPieParticipantThanks for that link, Transplantella. /r/Seattle is all over it too, as you might imagine.
July 15, 2015 at 12:54 am #825866
WSBKeymasterThe eventuality of a ginormous earthquake here is old news but if an East Coast article is what it takes to get people to finally pay attention, yay. The most important website you can look at right now if you’re now awakened:
Covering the local folks, we’ve been writing about and evangelizing local preparedness from our earliest commercial days. Please look up your nearest hub. And important preparedness info. Let’s not let apocalyptic despair “what does it matter if we’re all gonna be pulverized?” prevent preparedness … TR
July 15, 2015 at 1:13 am #825867
JayDeeParticipantBe prepared, but not for a Cascadian Subduction Quake. A Cascadian Subduction zone earthquake is not the peril to Seattle that this article points out. First we are distant from it–the best news. And the science is at best inexact on to the impacts on Seattle. What happens here will be more akin to the Nisqaully quake in 2001–what is your home sitting on, is there liquefaction?
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They are still researching that subduction zone and the error bars on the effects are ginormous (I am surprised WSB didn’t quote that superlative above).
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A local quake, along well known and studied faults should be more of a concern to us than a subduction quake and again, it may be worse or better than the Nisqually quake but “Everything west of I-5 is toast” is fearmongering.
July 15, 2015 at 1:42 am #825868
anonymeParticipantVery interesting article.
I wonder which will take us out first? The mega-quake and tsunami; catastrophic failure of the planet (predicted to occur within the century) due to climate change; or mass extinction due to overpopulation and other human activity (already past the tipping point). Or a perfect storm of all three?
Hmmm. Think I’ll have a beer.
July 15, 2015 at 4:21 pm #825869
SueParticipantPangolinPie, I work downtown, and at the safety meetings in my building they told us to have supplies to assume we could be stuck in the building 3-5 days in the event of an emergency for exactly that reason – being stuck downtown and unable to get home. I’m hoping that never happens.
July 15, 2015 at 4:54 pm #825870
wakefloodParticipantI guess I need to get a job at Le Panier, Sue. :-)
July 15, 2015 at 5:44 pm #825871
PangolinPieParticipantYeah, I need to start hoarding crackers and breakfast bars and bottled water in my desk drawers! I have a feeling that if TSHTF I’m gonna be living off mustard packets and the crumbs under my keyboard… ;)
July 15, 2015 at 8:43 pm #825872
StumbledoreMemberHopefully climate change gets to us first.
“Everything west of I-5” being “unrecognizable” doesn’t sound good.
July 15, 2015 at 8:47 pm #825873
LackingStyleParticipant‘just think about how aggressive those Orcas will get once hopped up on all the weed from the Medical Dispenseries that iwll be under water after the quake-nami
July 15, 2015 at 8:49 pm #825874
StumbledoreMember“One orca ate over 900 pounds of medical grade marijuana edibles, and is now running for Mayor.”
July 15, 2015 at 9:09 pm #825875
PangolinPieParticipantI for one welcome our new stoned orca overlords…
July 15, 2015 at 9:25 pm #825876
LackingStyleParticipantYes!
July 15, 2015 at 10:11 pm #825877
JanSParticipantso all the griping about the unfettered growth in West Seattle is a moot point, since we’re all doomed anyway?
July 16, 2015 at 11:54 am #825878
metrognomeParticipantinteresting that the article doesn’t mention the latest conspiracy theory that the earthquake, tsunami and concurrent volcano explosions are all part of President Obama’s plan to a) divert attention to the NW while US troops invade Texas, confiscate all the guns and imprison true patriots in abandoned Walmart stores (guarded by Chinese soldiers,) and b) use the resulting chaos to declare himself ‘dictator for life.’
also, the article doesn’t mention the post-apocalyptic rise of the zombies.
July 16, 2015 at 12:00 pm #825879
metrognomeParticipanton a more serious note … sorry, had to split the URL so it wouldn’t interfere with the ads. it may be easier to go to http://www.slate.com/ and search for ‘seattle earthquake.’
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/07/
kathryn_schulz_s_new_yorker_story_on_pacific_northwest_
earthquake_geologists.html
July 16, 2015 at 2:03 pm #825880
JoBParticipanti suspect the orcas would do a better job of governing
July 16, 2015 at 2:11 pm #825881
anonymeParticipantAmen to that.
I actually have a little fantasy that orcas will rule the new waterworld once our species is toast (literally). They are highly intelligent, and better equipped than we are to deal with complex social issues.
July 16, 2015 at 4:57 pm #825882
StumbledoreMemberOrcas don’t blog. Thankfully.
July 19, 2015 at 12:10 am #825883
JoBParticipant -
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