Scientists are sounding the alarm after a series of earthquakes rocked the West Coast last week, warning a major seismic event is ‘inevitable.’
Earthquakes trigger tsunamis by causing the ocean floor to rise or fall, pushing water above to form a massive wave.
But it isn’t just California at risk, Washington sits along the Cascadia Subduction Zone that is capable of a ‘megaquake’, they said.
Harold Tobin, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, said: ‘[The] 700-mile long fault capable of producing earthquakes up to magnitude 9 and tsunamis that will impact the entire coast.’
The quake and resulting tsunami could be devastate the Pacific Northwest, killing an estimated 14,000 people and injuring more than 100,000 in Oregon and Washington, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Cascadia Subduction Zone -that stretches from northern California to the Pacific – last released a 9.2 magnitude ‘megaquake’ in 1700, and pressure has been building since.
The Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) states there is about a 37 percent chance that the Cascadia Subduction Zone will produce an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 or greater within the next 50 years.
Robert Ezelle, the director of Washington state’s emergency management division, said: ‘It’s going to be the worst natural disaster in our country’s history.’
If the Cascadia Subduction Zone produced ‘The Big One,’ the quake and resulting tsunami would devastate the Pacific Northwest, killing an estimated 14,000 people and injuring more than 100,000 in Oregon and Washington
Off the coast of Washington lies the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 700-mile-long fault capable of producing earthquakes up to magnitude 9 and tsunamis that could impact the entire coast (stock)
‘Washington has, second only to California, the greatest risk from earthquakes in the country, Tobin told KIRO7.
That is because the state its on active faults and fault zones, making seismic events inevitable.
Along these faults, ‘the earthquakes might be smaller, but the damage could be really much worse,’ Tobin said.
Large earthquakes produced by these faults would likely cause mass property destruction, cut off access to certain neighborhoods and lead to numerous injuries and even deaths.
‘One would expect the power to be down, natural gas lines to be broken, maybe water and sewer lines to be broken,’ Tobin said.
He told NBC News that if a major quake were to hit the Cascadia shaking would last five minutes, but tsunami waves would batter the coast for 10 hours.
Roads and bridges would be destroyed, along with some 620,000 buildings and about 100 hospitals and 2,000 schools.
‘We’re unprepared,’ Ezelle said, noting that residents would have to take care of each other due to Washington officials say they’d have to fend for themselves for at least two weeks.
If produced by California’s San Andreas Fault, ‘The Big One’ would cause roughly 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage, experts estimate (STOCK)
The last damaging earthquake Washington experienced was the 2001 Nisqually quake.
This magnitude 6.8 tremblor struck the Puget Sound area without warning and caused upwards of $4 billion in damage and about 400 injuries.
California’s Earthquake Country Alliance said the the San Andreas Fault, which runs 800 miles up and down the coast of California from San Bernardino to the northern part of the state, is capable of an 8.3 magnitude earthquake.
This event would cause widespread destruction, leveling cities, sparking fires, cutting off electricity and bursting water mains. Experts estimate it could lead to 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damages.
The most recent significant tsunami to hit Washington and Oregon was in 1964, which was caused by a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
Both states were inundated with a 55-foot-tall wave, flooding cities along the coast.
The tsunami killed 122 people and caused millions of dollars in damages.
But the 9.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the Cascadia more than 300 years ago unleashed a tsunami over 50 feet high that barreled over the states and reached as far as Japan.
The San Andreas Fault runs 800 miles up and down the coast of California from San Bernardino to the northern part of the state
Although the San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone warrant special attention from seismologists due to their incredible earthquake-producing potential, these aren’t the only faults that could unleash themselves upon the West Coast.
Dozens of active faults and fault zones lie beneath Washington, including under major cities like Seattle and Tacoma.
The two largest quakes in Oregon’s history were produced by faults other than the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Both occurred in 1993. The first was a magnitude 5.6 that originated from the Mount Angel Fault Zone, and the second was a magnitude 6.0 produced by the Klamath graben fault system.
And in California, the most recent large earthquakes did not stem from the San Andreas Fault, but the Salt Wells Valley and Paxton Ranch Fault Zones.
This magnitude 6.4 foreshock and magnitude 7.1 mainshock cut power to at least 3,000 residents in Ridgecrest and caused a total of 50,000 people to feel shaking.
That suggests a damaging earthquake can come from practically anywhere along the West Coast.
Both the San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone are long overdue for a major earthquake.
Geologic studies show that throughout its history, the San Andreas has produced a ‘Big One’-level earthquake once every 150 years or so.
While the northern portion of this fault has experienced a major quake within the last 150 years, the southern portion has not — suggesting that one could strike near cities such as Los Angeles, San Bernardino or Palm Springs at any moment.
Research suggests southern California has a 36 percent chance of experiencing a magnitude 7.5 or great earthquake in the next 30 years, which would spread devastation across the state.
But until the San Andreas Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone finally rupture, the threat of ‘The Big One’ will continue to loom, sparking fears every time California, Oregon or Washington feels a tremble.
