As Washington prepares for mega-quake, nerve-rattling story still top of mind

It’s been nearly a year since we in the Northwest were told that everything we know and love west of I-5 will be unrecognizable when the next high-magnitude earthquake rattles unleashes its fury. Time may have helped quell some of the anxiety, but people haven’t put it completely out of their minds.

John Vidale, professor at the University of Washington and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, recently said that he still hears people discussing it. “Pretty much” the entire country saw the article by Kathryn Schulz, Vidale added.

And that isn’t too surprising.

Citing FEMA, the article published in The New Yorker on July 20, 2015, reported that 13,000 people will die and nearly 30,000 will be injured in an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.7 to above 9.0. If that isn’t enough to grab your attention, Schulz added that the “region will be unrecognizable” by the time a mega-quake is done shaking and the resulting tsunami has receded. The article later won a Pulitzer.

Related: Scientists say no need to panic over Seattle earthquake

“It was packed with great details and narrative,” Vidale said. “But some of the impressions people got really made them worry and a lot of them weren’t warranted.

“I’m surprised anyone lives here after that,” he quipped.

On the doorstep of the anniversary of the fear-inducing article by Schulz, FEMA is hosting a four-day event for all levels of government and the private sector. Emergency Operations and Coordination Centers will conduct simulated field responses within their jurisdictions between June 7-10.

.@WANationalGuard 1-161st Infantry begins the drive from Spokane as they prepare to participate in #CascadiaRising pic.twitter.com/L9q3yYd9pH

— WA National Guard (@WANationalGuard) June 5, 2016

“Recent subduction zone earthquakes around the world underscore the catastrophic impacts we will face when the next CSZ earthquake and tsunami occurs in our region” FEMA writes on its blog. The agency notes that three massive quakes in recent memory killed thousands, including: magnitude-9.1 in Indonesia in 2004 (228,000 fatalities); magnitude-8.8 in Chile in 2010 (500 fatalities); magnitude-9.0 in Japan in 2011 (18,000 fatalities).

The fault that could, potentially, cause a magnitude-9.0 quake in the Pacific Northwest would, according to scientists, come from the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Cascadia is an 800-mile long fault from B.C. to Northern California. The last major quake and tsunami from the fault occurred more than 300 years ago.

Despite the planned exercises, there haven’t been many — if any — notable earthquakes in the region. A magnitude-4.8 shook B.C. near Victoria. Other nerve-rattling quakes — which Vidale assures us aren’t worthy of worrying about — included some that the USGS reported were “steadily increasing” under Mount St. Helens.

Though the chance of a mega-quake shaking the region into an unrecognizable state is small, FEMA and other state and government agencies urge people to prepare. But just because people are preparing, doesn’t mean we should obsess over it. In a previous interview with University of Washington Seismologist Bill Steele, Steele said the idea that “everything west of I-5” being demolished is a bit of an exaggeration. Sure, there will be pockets of severe damage, but it probably won’t kill 13,000 people, he said.

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Airmen from the 242nd Comms SQDN are on site to begin the process of establishing communications for #CascadiaRising pic.twitter.com/fMH18Tail3

— WA National Guard (@WANationalGuard) June 5, 2016

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