We're Pacific NW U.S. earthquake experts ready to talk about tsunamis, earthquake early warning and more

[u/WaQuakePrepare]

EDIT: We are pretty much done! Thanks everyone for the great questions. We have some folks that could check in later if we didn’t get to your question or if you discover us later today but the answers won’t be right away. Remember no matter where you are, we invite you to drop, cover and hold on at 10:20 am Thursday. Learn more at shakeout.org

Oct. 20 is the Great ShakeOut, where millions of people across the country practice earthquake safety and drop, cover and hold on under a sturdy object. Today, we have experts in Washington state and Oregon talking about ShakeOut, earthquakes and we can even touch on Pacific Northwest volcanoes. For instance, did you now it’s possible to now get a warning on your phone before an earthquake strikes? It’s called the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System.

We are a team with a variety of expertise particularly in the Pacific Northwest including: earthquakes (science/physics, monitoring, protective actions, preparedness), tsunamis (tsunami safety, hazards, modeling, preparedness, and recovery), structural engineering/building performance and emergency preparedness.

PROOF HERE. More proof here.

From Washington Emergency Management Division:

Brian Terbush

Elyssa Tappero

Mark Pierepiekarz, P.E., S.E.

Hollie Stark

Dante DiSabatino

From Pacific Northwest Seismic Network:

Bill Steele

Dr. Renate Hartog

Dr. Alex Hutko

From Washington Department of Natural Resources (Washington Geological Survey):

Corina Allen

Daniel Eungard

From Simpson Strong-Tie (Structural Products and Solutions including Earthquake Retrofits):

Emory Montague, S.E.

From Oregon Office of Emergency Management:

Althea Rizzo

[u/JetPunk]

Biggest threat in terms of human deaths: Cascadia fault, Mt. Rainier, or Seattle fault?

[u/WaQuakePrepare → u/JetPunk]

To be frank, Cascadia. The tsunami is a major threat to our outer coast communities, much more than Mt Rainier (for which we would most likely have more warning for evacuations) or the Seattle Fault (much lower probability than Cascadia). This is why we are working hard to get vertical evacuation structures built on the outer coast where high ground isn't close enough for folks to reach before the first waves of a Cascadia tsunami arrive.

- Elyssa

[u/possiblyhysterical → u/WaQuakePrepare]

Could an earthquake set off Mt Rainier or Hood?

[u/WaQuakePrepare → u/possiblyhysterical]

No, though volcanic activity can be accompanied by earthquakes (though not on the scale of Cascadia). Here's a good resource for here in WA:

https://mil.wa.gov/volcano

- Elyssa

[u/Dildo5000 → u/possiblyhysterical]

That would really fuck up camp muir.

[u/saluksic → u/WaQuakePrepare]

A vertical evacuation structure. Huh, I’d never heard of this before.

It seems like a lot of the feedback here is along the lines of “no one is my neighborhood will have time to evacuate”, given crowded towns and small roads. The advice is to be ready to move when you feel a shake, but the point still stands that everyone in, say, Westport, Ocean Shores, and Ocean Park is going to die.

Vertical evacuation structures seem like a very elegant solution to that (and not far off the tree-house suggestion someone mentioned). Seems like these should be a bigger part of the discussion.

[u/ortusdux → u/saluksic]

I wonder if they could double up as life-guard towers?

[u/WaQuakePrepare → u/ortusdux]

Some communities are trying to find ways to make them multi-purpose - such as the Ocosta Elementary School structure, which is (obviously) both a school and a community vertical evacuation structure. Others that are just stand-alone structures may end up being community gathering places for weddings, concerts, etc - Westport is looking into that right now.

- Elyssa

[u/Farva85 → u/JetPunk]

Lahar triggered by an earthquake.

[u/WaQuakePrepare → u/[deleted]]

Good info about historical lahars, and thank you for sharing, but just have to point out:
Lahars are THE most dangerous hazards from Washington's 5 active volcanoes, and they need to be respected, and those in lahar hazard zones need to understand how they'll be alerted, and their evacuation routes - just as much as those in tsunami hazard zones.
For both hazards, the only way to guarantee your survival is to not be there when it arrives - That Electron Mudflow that Orting is built on top of: that is tens of feet of mud, and that's just the sediment part that remained behind after this massive wall of mud and debris moved through.

For hazards it is critical to know what to expect in your area, how you'll get alerted, and what to do/where to go when that alert arrives.

-Brian