Operation Pinecone prepares emergency responders for ‘the big one’

It’s day two of “Operation Pinecone,” a major emergency operations scenario taking place all over Western Washington to help teams prepare for “the big one.”

Hundreds of emergency workers in six counties, state agencies, private businesses, FEMA and even officials from British Colombia are taking part in the biggest disaster drill of its kind.

“Five earthquakes went off simultaneously across the Puget Sound region,” says Sherry Badger with Pierce County Emergency Management.

Major earthquakes are simulated in Tacoma, Seattle, Olympia and Everett. Even local college students are preparing for the worst.

“They did light search and rescue, and so they had faculty and students go in and rescue some other students,” Badger says.

It has been more than a decade since a big one has hit the Seattle area. If you have not been here that long you might not know that we are actually in a major earthquake zone.

“Outside of California we have the highest annualized losses to earthquakes of anywhere in the country,” says Bill Steele with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network based at the University of Washington.

We have fault lines from Olympia and Tacoma to Seattle and Everett.

“So every major city in our region has a pretty major fault right next to it,” Steele says.

To make matters worse, our rainy weather makes the soil more viscous when the ground begins to shake. Steele says it can act more like a liquid than a solid.

“Modern structures are built to modern earthquake code standards, so that’s good. But, now, most of our homes are older. The older houses are not bolted to their foundations appropriately,” says Steele.

The Nisqually earthquake of 2001 was centered along a deep fault line outside of town. Steele says that was nothing compared to what we could see if the Seattle fault ever decides to act up. That one goes right up to the surface in SODO.

“That’s gonna throw it’s energy right up to the surface, right up to downtown, and produce very strong shaking for all of our buildings,” Steele says.

It may seem like a one in a million shot that we would have an earthquake measuring more than seven on the Richter scale. It has not happened in recorded history. But, it has happened. It was just over a thousand years ago.

“Lifted Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island 23 feet, and West Seattle as well, generated a tsunami in the Puget Sound,” says Steele.

Our area is in line for any one of three different kinds of earthquakes: deep quakes like the Nisqually, offshore shakers that could start under the Olympic Peninsula, or crustal quakes like those that could come from the Seattle fault line.

“So, you add it all together, and the chances are very high we’re going to be shaken by a major earthquake,” says Steele.

And it is not just earthquakes. If a big one hits in Puget Sound, Seattle could see a major tsunami. There is also the possibility a quake could trigger a “lahar” at Mount Rainier. That is sort of like an eruption, but with hot mud instead of lava.

In any case, emergency planners recommend you stock up on food and water, create a family emergency plan and make sure your home is secure.