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/t0mserv0]

I have a question about THE BIG ONE (I am a Portland resident). So could The Big One just literally happen at any time with no warning, like I'd wake up to the world around me being completely obliterated? Or is this something that we'll be able to detect the likelihood/probability of happening increasing in the days/hours before it actually happens? Also is there any sort of indication what time of day it might happen or is that just a random crapshoot?

[u/WaQuakePrepare → u/t0mserv0]

Hi t0mserv0. I prefer to say "a" big one rather than "the" big one since there are multiple possible events that can affect any particular place. There is no known significant time of day/month/year when earthquakes happen. Certain tiny tiny earthquakes that you can't even feel if you were above them can be slightly modulated by tidal stresses. In general I don't walk around scared or worried. What I do for myself and my family is I have the MyShake app on my phone, I fix it's location to one zip code, and I change out the two 5 gallon water jugs in my shed once a year. My earthquake kit also has canned food, some old jackets, a tarp, some TP, paper towels, wipes and a basic first aid kit. Nothing too fancy or expensive, but can be priceless if a bad earthquake were to happen near us.
Also: completely obliterated like in the movies? No, probably not. If we lived in a region with lots of mud brick houses, which are very weak to shear stress, I'd be more vigilant about making sure my family knows where is/isn't likely a good place to put a bed, but here in the US with mostly wood construction, complete building failure of houses/apartment buildings tends not to be the biggest issue. I'm much more worried about stuff falling on our heads, which is why we practice drop, cover, hold.
-Alex

[u/Synaps4 → u/t0mserv0]

Hey just chiming in because I don't think the answer you got really covered what you asked.

The best warning systems we have for earthquakes give about 15 minutes ish warning, with the warning time depending on how far you end up being from the fault.

We can't really do any better than that. To my knowledge there is no time of day or year that earthquakes are more or less likely to happen. Any time is possible.