The relatively modest earthquake in Washington last Sunday night was just a reminder - “The Big One” is coming.
When the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 700 mile long fault which runs from Northern California to British Columbia slips again, the result is expected to be one of the deadliest and costliest natural disasters in North American history.
Another 9.0+ seismic event will cause a 40-50 wall of water to surge on to the lower coastline, taking everything with it until it subsides.
The last one to occur in this region was in 1700 and experts say we’re overdue for another one. According to lore, many coastal Native Americans were victims.
The Tōhoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan that killed 18,000 people and caused $220 billion in damage in 2011 may look like quaint compared to what we could be in for.
For a long time we've maintained a reasonably good supply of emergency food and survival gear, which has long been recommended by those who study earthquakes.
Hopefully we'll never have to use it.
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