r/IAmA • u/WaQuakePrepare • Oct 19 '22

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

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

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u/PsychoCitizenX Oct 19 '22 edited Oct 19 '22

I live in Ocean Shores WA. There is one road in/out of town and a population of 6k or so. In the event of a Tsunami, it seems unreasonable that many people will have the time to drive out.

The copalis ghost forest is right down the road from here and tree stumps still stand from the 1700 Tsunami. Does it make sense to build a tree fort as a way to survive?

13

u/Turbulent-Travel9115 Oct 19 '22

That's clever, but unfortunately the Ghost Forest isn't necessarily a testament to potential future wave heights. You're better off knowing your evacuation routes and practicing them so when the ground shakes, you're reading to get moving as soon as it's safe to do so. Remember, for a local tsunami (one for which we feel that ground shaking), driving most likely won't be possible. That means almost everyone will be on foot, and you can sidestep any traffic by going off-road as needed.

- Elyssa

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u/PsychoCitizenX Oct 19 '22

The tree is wide and tall so I could built it pretty high. I know the evacuation routes and they make no sense for the number of people living here. Walking out would take hours. Check it out:

https://goo.gl/maps/Hq9uhxLwkGjUr5gZ6

One of the neighbor cities named Westport actually converted the roof of a school to address this same issue.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 20 '22

Might make more sense to just make peace with the fact that you would be unlikely to survive this event.

2

u/mysteries-of-life Oct 20 '22

An earthquake would probably be somewhat harsh on treehouses

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u/WaQuakePrepare Oct 19 '22

In lieu of having an evacuation structure or viable evacuation path to high ground available to you the next best course of action is to move as far inland or bayside in this case and then upwards as possible. So for south-central Ocean Shores it would be best to head towards Duck Lake and then get as high as you can via a multi-story building or other elevated structure.

Every foot you can travel away from the coast and upwards greatly improves your chances of survival.

-Daniel

14

u/JoystickMonkey Oct 19 '22

I suggest you get yourself a helium tank, a bunch of balloons, lots of string, a lawn chair, and a BB gun.

6

u/PsychoCitizenX Oct 19 '22

I was actually being serious. I know a tree fort sounds silly but trees are still standing from the last big one from over 300 years ago so it stands to reason it could provide shelter from a Tsunami.

8

u/BellNumerous5325 Oct 19 '22

I worry about effects similar to lahar flow. It seems just as likely to me that the trees would be useless or a bigger threat than most else.

17

u/WaQuakePrepare Oct 19 '22

The trees were also alive and most likely quite healthy when the 1700 tsunami hit them - by now they're standing but they've been dead for hundreds of years, so may not withstand the same forces they did in their prime.

- Elyssa

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u/Synaps4 Oct 19 '22

Serious response: if you look at the footage from the japan tsunami coming ashore, (link below) the issue quickly becomes not the water, but all the debris from buildings that were on the shore. The issue for your tree isn't the water or the other trees it's the debris that will come in from one side and then hit it again on the way out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4w27IczOTk

Your tree might have handled water and other trees well, when no buildings were here in 1700... but your neighbor's floating, burning, house wrapped around the base of it might be another story entirely.

2

u/Bitter-Basket Oct 19 '22

I'll be in your city in a couple weeks for some fall vacation time. Way down near Damon Point. I think about the impossibility of getting out of there in a tsunami each year.

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u/PsychoCitizenX Oct 19 '22

Cool! I am a 10 minute walk from Damon points. Funny story, they do a test of the warning system every month. They also do test once a year that sounds different from the monthly test. I wasn't aware of this when I moved here. So a month after moving in the yearly warning goes off and I grabbed the cat and jumped in the car and took off. Shortly after freaking the F out I realized it was just another test.

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u/WaQuakePrepare Oct 19 '22

Oh no, I'm sorry we missed you with our test messaging! We test the sirens with the actual wailing sound on the Great Washington ShakeOut (so tomorrow, 10/20). We do a big ad campaign ahead of the test but it always misses a few folks. I'm glad you jumped into action and took your kitty with you though! (Picture....?)

- Elyssa

1

u/truthdoctor Oct 19 '22

The best option is always going to be evacuating from the area about to be hit by a tsunami rather than trying to survive it. What if the wave is higher than you are expecting? Then your tree fort might just serve as a coffin.