Some FReepers actually believe all this leftist hype, including its genesis of stupidity (which coincidentally was published the same year that they discovered this cited ‘leak’):
“Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.” - Kenneth Murphy, FEMA.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
Fear porn sells and articles about the Cascadia Fault are always a good read to capture the imagination. I would bet that these articles are recycled once a week or more somewhere around the world.
There will be an event and it is certain. Yellowstone will erupt eventually too and it is potentially a mass extinction event. There will be a major earthquake along the San Andreas Fault one day.
What we cannot comprehend easily about the Cascadia or Yellowstone events are that the frequency of such events is measured in tens or hundreds of thousands of years.
I believe geologist think that a major quake along the San Andreas Fault is the most likely according to geological history but in the end we have even less control over these events than we do a large asteroid or meteor impacting the plant.
No, this is a real case of “Oh Shiitte!” is actually a real threat. I’ve driven those coves and bays from mid-state Washington down to the Columbia River. You have ONE coastal two-lane road.
It varies going up and down from 5 feet above sea level (ASL) to 50 - 60 feet ASL higher. Then bends and curves back down to the next tiny coastal town. Every 5-15 miles, there is an road going back east towards Interstate 5. Interstate 5 is a bit higher - 35- 70 or 80 ASL. Its bridges? Might stay up, might fall. Landslides and roadbed collapses as in Alasaka’s 1960’s earthquake will likely cut up parts of I-5, even if the bridges are good.
The tsunami will likely strip bare everything within 30 feet of today’s waterline - but depending on what land moves up and what land moves down, that too may vary by 2-3 meters.
Whew, I’m at least 500 feet east of the I-5, what a relief!
It's almost certain that in some point in the future there will be a tremendous West Coast earthquake and tsunami due to the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
It seems the last great quake in this region occurred on January 26, 1700. A big tsunami subsequently hit Japan, catching people by surprise because no one felt an earthquake preceding it.
Here is a lecture by Nick Zentner from Central Washington University which is informative and entertaining:
Great Earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest
I read that article and the follow-up by the author regarding the “toast” comment. She (the author) went in more detail over the possible results of a massive quake. Stuff like power out for 30(?) days, water out for 60(?) days, 70%(?) of the bridges not usable.
She said something like: “It isn’t all going to be flattened, but it will be severely damaged - so yeah, I think ‘toast’ covers the above scenario.
When we vacation on the WA coast I always make sure we have a place to stay that is high up. Some day it will happen. Probably not in my lifetime, but...