Study: Puget Sound has 75% chance of major earthquake in next 100 years

There’s rarely ever good news revolving around earthquake predictions in the Puget Sound. Most of it seems to revolve around how bad the damage is going to be and how soon all that damage might arrive.

A new earthquake danger assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey says that the Puget Sound has a 75 percent or greater chance of being hit by a damaging earthquake in the next 100 years, reports The News Tribune.

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The new models examine which areas are in the worst danger zones, and on it the Puget Sound has the same level of potential danger as California, with the remainder of Western Washington at a not-as-bad 36 to 74 percent chance of being struck.

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It’s been more than 300 years since Cascadia last quaked. The Cascadia subduction zone covers the offshore area where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate pushes under the larger North American plate, and produces megathrust quakes every 300 to 600 years. Some experts believe it’s long overdue and has the potential to devastate Western Washington and generate a tsunami.

The new study also looks at ground-shaking estimates for Puget Sound sites, taking into building codes and soil types.

“As new earthquakes occur, the National Seismic Hazard Model Project Team considers how to incorporate those scientific observations into improved hazard models across the country,” the USGS said.

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