The threat of a massive and catastrophic earthquake wrecking havoc in our region has been captured in numerous newspaper articles. Information about the potential for disaster from geologists and other experts has increased in recent years. As a result, government agencies have stepped up efforts to prepare for a coordinated response if, more likely when, the quake strikes. Here are several informative articles from the print media. We encourage you to read them as you hope for the best and prepare yourselves and your families for such a worst-case-scenario event. Click on the highlighted titles below to open the articles.
The New Yorker
Click here to access The Really Big One, by Kathryn Schulz (July 20, 2015), the sub heading of which reads, "An earthquake will destroy a sizeable portion of the Pacific Northwest. The question is when?" Toward the end of the article, the author writes, "The Cascadia subduction zone remained hidden from us for so long because we could not see deep enough into the past. It poses a danger to us today because we have not thought deeply enough about the future."
The New Yorker
Click here to view the article, How to Stay Safe When the Big One Comes, by Kathryn Schulz (July 28, 2015). At the end of the long and informative article, the author writes, “That’s one way of looking at life in the Pacific Northwest: it’s a wonderful activity, but to do it safely you need to understand its inherent risks and work to allay them.”
Sequim Gazette
Click here to read, Juan de Fuca Plate is Making Moves and Big Changes Are Coming (August 19, 2015), the second paragraph of which reads, “Through a variety of methods, modeling and ongoing research, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, lasting 4-10 minutes is projected to occur at any moment and impact Sequim, along with all other nearby coastal communities as a result of the plate’s movement. That reality has local and regional emergency management officials preparing for the worst.”
Hakai Magazine
Click here to read a copy of The Great Quake and the Great Drowning, by Ann Finkbeiner (September 14, 2015), the sub-heading for which reads, "Mega-quakes have periodically rocked North America’s Pacific Northwest. Indigenous people told terrifying stories about the devastation but refused to leave."
Seattle Times
Click here to access the article, Washington state's plan for megaquake "grossly inadequate," review finds, by Sandi Doughton and Daniel Gilbert (October 22, 2016), the opening statement in which reads, "The largest disaster drill ever conducted in the Pacific Northwest found that, despite decades of warnings, the region remains dangerously unprepared to deal with a Cascadia megaquake and tsunami."