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/WaQuakePrepare]

Hi PanickedPoodle! Unfortunately, there is no way to predict earthquakes. That said, the tiny probability of a large earthquake happening at any one particular time increases a tiny bit when there is an earthquake swarm due to stresses in the area changing. However, that effect is so small it isn't actionable, i.e. for us mere mortals all we can do is be prepared and make sure to have the Early Warning notifications activated on your phone (and download an Early Warning app if you haven't yet). Early warning tries to warn ahead of impending shaking when an earthquake has already started. Depending on where you are in relation to the epicenter, you may actually get a heads up that way so you can drop, cover, and hold on! -Renate

[u/thebigkevdogg → u/WaQuakePrepare]

It can be actionable on the case of a moderate sized earthquake, especially near an active fault. Reasenburg and Jones is still a good rule of thumb: 5% chance of triggering a larger earthquake in the next week.