What If The Big Earthquake Hits The Pacific Northwest Tomorrow?
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2022
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Off the coast of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia sits the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a particular kind of fault line that will eventually unleash an earthquake not seen since the year 1700. When it does eventually hit, it's estimated to be the largest earthquake to ever strike the modern United States. Unfortunately, the Pacific Northwest has not prepared for such an incredibly devastating disaster. So what happens if it the big earthquake hits tomorrow?
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I have been in a 9.2 earthquake in Alaska in 1964. It lasted 5 minutes. I was walking and headed away from all thiings that might fall on me out into a large field where I spent the next 4 minutes watching people running out of their houses, stopping cars, streets cracking, and the earth was amazing. I can still hear and feel it in my mind. I have lived in WA since 1981 and am as prepared as can be. I have water and food, blankets, and other things in my car. You could be out driving somewhere when it hits so I even take my prescription with me. I already know what I will do if it hits while I am home and where my emergency stuff is at so I am prepared. You want to stay away from windows and anything that will fall. The scarey thing other than tsunami warning if you are near the coast is all the aftershocks. They are just as scarey as the original quake. At this point in my life I have experienced so many quakes that I can tell how big they are on the reichter scale.
@@joesgarage2493 it's better than not being prepared at all. Just a few preparations that you make can change a lot such as what he's gonna do in the aftermath. He could live in his car for a few days and it's gonna be MUCH easier than living in a car with nothing that you prepared.
@@joesgarage2493 It'll still suck to be there if the prep is done, but it'll suck less.
Random example: a chemical toilet is likely to be a great friend for many, even if it's only a 7.
I have been in more than one 8+ richter (2010 and 2015) quake, One of the things you always remember is the sound of the quake, the sound your building makes while being moved.
The most important thing is to keep calm and not try to flee while is still happening, wait until it ends, If the quake is big enough so you can't stand up, that's a big rule of thumb that a tsunami may happen, if is the case run to a place 30mts above sea level.
My grandma felt the 1960's valdivia quake, she was too far away to be in any danger, but it has been said that it lasted 14 minutes, two years later she went to work in the public work ministry and they where still busy repairing all the roads in southern chile.
@@joesgarage2493 I politely disagree, quake preparation can make the difference between disaster and not enough of a fuss to interrupt normal life, an 8+ quake for sure it will, it will destroy stuff and kill people, but preparation can and has saved thousands of lives, like in chile, in 2010 an 8.8 Richter quake killed way less people than in the smaller Haiti quake, most of chile was still standing after that night, although a lot of rebuilding had to be done, most of chile was intact.
Chile prepares, a loma prieta kind of event is common here, a 6+ quake may happen at least once a year, and like, it doesn't make enough fuss to stop normal life, in worst of cases a preventive tsunami evacuation.
Assuming you can escape, you better have a gun too. Underprepared stupid people will feel entitled to your survival goods.
I’ve lived in BC my whole life. This is the one thing that scares me the most about being here. Besides rental prices.
Why you people still live there baffles me almost as much as why they keep voting for democrats.
Oof ain't that the truth.
Uff da Mae! 🇧🇻🇺🇸
My friend lives in the Richmond area of Vancouver B.C. which is an area that could suffer from liquefaction during this event. I live in Oregon. It is scary! Get ready and be safe!
Which one will make you homeless first?
the upbeat transitions between horrifying descriptions of mass destruction are great
The threat of this earthquake is one thing that motivated me to leave the Seattle Tacoma area and move 300 miles east to Spokane near the Idaho border a few years ago. Now I just have to worry about the Yellowstone park volcano erupting. Lol.
No, you don't. Don't pay attention to these clickbait videos... Look up videos by Nick Zentner, who teaches geology at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. He knows what he's talking about.
The entire universe has to worry about that
Yellowstone will at least give clear signs for decades before it erupts - the ground would rise; thats how they knew Mt St Helens would erupt
@@jacobpeters5458 Good to hear! 🤣
Fairchild Air Force Base is located there so it’s a target if a war broke out. Much more likely than the other two scenarios. There’s really no place to feel completely warm and fuzzy anymore.
My parents and I are native Washingtonians. I was three years old when the Alaska ‘64 earthquake hit. We felt it in Washington; it’s my earliest memory. I was absolutely terrified and went running down the hall to where my grandmother was and said “what was that what was that?” She looked up from her sewing and said “oh it’s just an earthquake.” “Oh, ok, I said.”
Sheesh. In retrospect, she probably thought it was a small one in Washington, only later finding out about Alaska.
@Banter Maestro2 a terrible monster. I don’t know if you know this, but it made the Space Needle sway perceptively, scaring many Seattleites.
We used to live in Portland on Hawthorne Street and 34th St. Then we moved to tornado alley in the Midwest, lol. 🙄😬
In central western Illinois, our well water was muddy for 3 days after the Alaskan earthquake.
Experienced a 7.8 in Alaska around 2000. Cars jumping around in driveway, trees waving every direction, the house swayed so hard chandelier hitting ceiling on both sides of swing, ground waves making it hard to stay on feet.
We all know the earthquake will happen when a squirrel jams an acorn in the ground.
I saw that documentary also. With my kids.
When California goes Yellowstone goes so we mine the fault lines at the salt n sea for lithium and subsidize electric cars.
I live in the Canadian portion of this zone on an island. The explosion in population growth over the last 10-15 years has me worried. Not, that all the newer housing will be totally destroyed (codes for EMS are pretty strict here) but the aftermath of trying to support all the extra people with water and food, etc. THAT"S where the big disaster will happen. I have been preparing by redundancy of my kits. Inside the house, in the vehicles and outside. This video has me re-thinking the placement of some of the gear. Will it be accessible if there is a total collapse??
To give an idea of how powerful the tsunami would be, one of the few historical records of the last Cascadian earthquake comes from Japan where they have long kept records of tsunamis and earthquakes for obvious reasons. The last time the Cascadian Subduction Zone did it's thing, the resulting tsunami went all the way to Japan (which confused recordkeepers of the time since there was no corresponding earthquake to presage it).
We have evidence of it in B.C. and WA State.
Brian Atwater, et al., wrote a book about it, called "The Orphan Tsunami of 1700."
It's actually not that uncommon that tsunamis travel all the way across the Pacific Ocean. The one from the Chile earthquake of May 1960 did so, and caused significant damage and killed people in both Hawaii and Japan. The 2011 Japanese tsunami was strong enough to wreck boats and docks in California as well.
iirc, the Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest like the Haida and Tlingit have old oral traditions, or stories, of powerful tsunamis which destroyed their villages many generations ago. Most civilization on Earth have some sort of flood myth in their history, like Noah's ark, but oral traditions of a flood do not usually last as long as written ones. The fact that the flood stories are so prominent in Pacific Northwest Native stories, all these years later, really goes to show how important and memorable this event was to them. Shit was powerful.
@@daltonmiller5590Oral tradition has been a method of preserving the history and culture of a group from ancient times to the present. Universal literacy wasn't a thing until about 150 years ago, and still isn't as universal as we'd like it to be. Many of the great written traditions -- Iliad, Odyssey, Bible, Beowulf, to name 4 of the best-known -- existed in oral form long before they were put to paper. See if you can find the works of Jan Vansina, John Miles Foley, and Albert Bates Lord. These 3 scholars made huge contributions to our understanding of the historical value of oral tradition.
Chris Goldfinger drilled cores off the Pacific NW coast and found turbidites that showed the time between earthquakes was actually just 254 yrs. With this in mind, the area in the lower portion of the Cascadia Subduction Zone is overdue.
One other note that was missed. When, not if, the zone rips, there will not only be an earthquake and tsunami....the land along the shore will suddenly drop in elevation which will dramatically increase the destruction. For those who keep up with this topic, this is why the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 easily went over the sea wall. It WAS built high enough to withstand a tsunami, but the engineers didn't take into account that the land would drop...so now a 30 ft high wall was now a 20 ft wall. The extra 10 ft cost thousands of lives.
I think the underestimation included not factoring in the effects of massive undersea slumps of sedimentation. One slump alone more than doubled wave heights at the Sanriku Coast. The area of that slump was 40km by 20km, and was two kilometers thick.
@@boxwoodgreen Interesting, I haven't heard that brought up before. I often wondered why tsunami heights varied along a coastline.
I maintained Cell towers all along the coast and Olypen for about 15 years. In that time I spent a lot of time I studying results of the 1701 quake. If you interested go look at the uplift on Graul Ramapo Rd on the north side of lake crescent . Sobering.
@@thomaslthomas1506 I wasn't able to find that road on google maps.
@@AndyFL64 Sorry I had a brain fart. It actually is Joyce Piedmont Road off of SR112.
Earthquakes are so terrifying. I’ve been through multiple hurricanes, which often bring tornadoes, but there was nothing that could have prepared me for my first earthquake.
I remember one that I thought was an explosion it hit so hard. The local I was living with ran out of the house so instinctively fast while I was stuck sitting wondering what was happening.
Please tell us more
dick move on his part that he didn't tell you to run with him
A geologist named Brian Atwater pushed a pipe down at the Cascadia Subduction Zone and found mud and then sand which showed that it has unlocked several times. The land by the Copalis River dropped about 6 feet letting salt water come in which killed the trees. I learned this from Nick Zentner a geology professor at Central Washington University which is in Ellensburg, WA.
Wasn't one of the times when Japan received a killer tsunami back in 1700 I believe? Or is this something different?
I love Nick's geology videos!
Thanks for sharing ❤
Since the late 80’s here in Vancouver BC the building code has required the mechanical connection of bolting the sill plate of the house to the foundation to prevent the house falling off the foundation. I have worked on several houses where the builder has been asked to connect the foundation into the rock itself via long rock bolts
We have biult houses bolted to the foundation here in South Dakota for about 100 years! Wind can do as much damage as earthquakes.
Ive lived in the PNW my whole life and we've always heard about this. Its probably the thing that scares me most about living here. I remember working on a house with my dad and installing anchors that used 5 big screws into the wood and 2 massive bolts into the concrete of the foundation so the house wouldn't slide off and I realized how serious it could be at that moment
SO move ... Duh
Pacific Northwest in the US or up in Canada?
because according to this RUclipsr Canada doesn't exist and/or isn't worthy of mentioning what would happen to everyone here
@Account NumberEight it is tho. People are too scared and comfortable to make a change in their lives
@@Shinzon23 He does mention BC in the list of places impacted?
@@SilentCreepa22 anywhere you move has issues. Here in Ohio, a tornado could happen literally any day. They have happened in the winter, summer, fall spring etc.
I live on the south side of Whildbey Island and I am always stocked up for a week of food and gas because of the storms that hit every year. Like last year where we lost power for a week and the roads were blocked off by fallen trees for a couple of days. The bright side is a lot of people in the area went out and helped clear debris and each other as needed. A earthquake would be much worse, but I am happy with my neighbors who I know will help each other out. Ill be out there as well.
I have experienced Whittier Quake and the Northridge quake from the Glendale Highlands. Both were very scary. I was on top if a small earthquake in Santa Barbara, and it was overwhelming. I could not stay standing. So being near the epicenter makes it an entirely different experience.
Yes. This will be a big deal. I will say as someone who has worked in construction in WA - there are a lot of modern codes and retrofit requirements that are preparing buildings and people for this. Seattle is building a new seawall for example. NOAA is also working hard on alert systems. Will it be bad - yes, but to say the PNW is not preparing for this is false. I think the scarier part is the limited transportation options into and out of the region and the significant population growth the region is experiencing. Depending on time of year, damage to dams and water systems might also make serious islands of large population areas.
i've moved to Lopez Island because i have a death wish. 🥂
You mentioned modern construction codes. Do you know when the new codes took affect? I live in a 2016 townhouse.
@@sarojpatel4262 2016 should be up to modern code. You can go in the crawlspace and make sure your Sill plate (bottom piece of wood) is bolted to the concrete foundation. Most wood buildings (houses) do alright with the exception of sliding off the foundation, and gas and waterline breakage. Concrete and brick don't do well.
@@sarojpatel4262 back before 2000, so your bldg is fine. I lived in a bldg that was built in the late '60s, the building was retrofitted for the earthquakes back in 1999. It took about 9 months.
You probably should have mentioned that Jan 1700 date was from Japanese records of a giant tsunami crossing the Pacific from Washington. Japan and Hawaii will also be devastated by a Cascadia quake.
Yes the orphan tsunami. Also the ghost forests of the PNW. The ground right now is higher because it is being pushed. Once the quake happens the coastline will actually sink. This happened in the ghost forests and when they dug they saw I think three huge waves (tsunami) brought in an unbelievable amount of sand. How far it went in has not been determined yet.
I have heard of a huge earthquake in the Cascadia in the year 1700 but there seems to be no recorded history of it anywhere. There were European explorers in the Cascadia area at the time.
@@michaelverbakel7632No there were not any Europeans there. It was 100 years before Lewis and Clark.
They know because the Japanese have written records going back to about 600 AD.
They recorded a tsunami in Jan 1700 and there was no earthquake to go with it so they recorded it as an ‘orphan tsunami’. Using their date and time we know the earthquake occurred on Jan 26, 1700 at 9:00 PM +- 30 minutes.
Love the happy little tune played between the bad news clips. 😬😆
Thanks for the video. Really enjoyed it
I was in Northridge, the epicenter of that 94 quake when it happened. My parents lived a few blocks from the apartment building that pancaked. We lived off the 5/14 freeway that collapsed. It was a traffic nightmare for over a year. The aftershocks were as terrifying as the first one. The transformers blowing up lit the sky like it was the Apocalypse. If you weren’t there, you have no idea what it was like.
🎖
I remember the ground didn't stop shaking for weeks 😖 traumatized my 10 year old psyche
I have a customer whos wife died in that quake. She ran out the building and was hit in the head by a brick. He has since become a billionaire. He is the richest person in Paso Robles.
My husband and I were in Tucson for the Northridge, BUT, we still had a major business at business. That said he was still there for the Northridge. We were both there for the Loma Prieta, I landed at LAX as it was happening. My friend (Fillmore CA) went to the Bay area as his kids were there, it was a nightmare.
@@LotsofStuffYT Good for him?
It would be a devastating event. The truly sad thing is how slowly the region is getting ready for it. It could be far less damaging if we collectively acted and yet the majority of the population will reject ballot measures and initiatives that seek to fund needed improvements. Then the same people, those who survive anyway, will demand to know why more wasn’t done after it happens. Sad but true.
i totally agree, nobody is taking this serious enough and most people i know don’t even have an emergency bag, i’d say if u have the money move away asap
@@dsb5417 I dont think its a good idea to live our lives based on fear of bad things that could happen to us. Im not sure about moving away but would definitely take steps to mitigate the risks that would go along with such an event. I would encourage everyone to have a plan for any possible natural disaster that could happen where they live, and an emergency bag is definitely part of that.
But I guess that is easy for me to say. I live about 140 miles inland from the Oregon Coast in the Hood River Valley. The shaking where I live will be much less severe than in coastal communities and my own house is less than ten years old and is unlikely to sustain any serious damage.
Its more cost effective to lt rip. Damage will most likely be total anyway
I don’t think it’s possible to be ready for something like this. They’re just shouldn’t be real estate in Vancouver and LA, and the other affected areas. This is why I’m moving.
@@brattyprincess808 You seem to be viewing things in very black and white terms. Its not either completely prepared or completely unprepared. I think of it more in terms of a spectrum. On a scale of one to ten, one being unprepared and ten being totally prepared Id say we are at a two or three. Just getting started and moving too slowly but not exactly at a one. Even if the earthquake happens when we are at, say, a five or six then there would be much less loss of life probably.
Suggesting that we completely depopulate, as I take your words anyway, the US west coast is not practical or rational. Do as you like, of course, but no matter where you move to there will be potential natural disasters. Better to take steps to mitigate that risk than make decisions based on fear, but again its your choice of course.
Thanks for the important information on the Big Earthquake . Very interesting video.
I was in Alaska for the Great Alaska Earthquake, in 1964 an airman of The Elmendorf Air base there. And believe me it was no joke. It lasted at least five minutes to my count and took many more lives that reported, because so many of the communities along the coast that were obliterated by the tsunami, had no population count . It was reported as from 8.9 to 9.2. but that matters little to those in it. The building damaged was not uniform, as the brand new Penny's building was totally ruined, but the barracks and work station I was in built of cinder blocks was damaged, but easily repaired. I was on the second floor of the building and ran through the rec room with the pool balls flying around the table and made it to the ground down the outside fire escape. I saw openings in the ground, but avoided them, despite the fact that I could not stand up during the shaking and could not move, either. Down town, a whole section of the main street sank one story on one side. And the area known as Turnigan Arm, slid mostly towards the bay. After the quake it was made law that no one could ever build there, but about twenty years later, they cancelled that and people stupidly are building on an area of layers of soil that will again turn into jello with the next major earthquake. One of the reports to indicate the power of the quake estimated that that quake moved the McKinley Mountain range about two feet, that is the whole range. I still have pictures of that time.
We lived right next to Elmendorf in the Richardson Vista apts. in 1964.My dad was stationed there and during the quake he as gone for 2 days because he worked at 6981st and they did all the communications to the lower 48 states. I was just about to enter the base through a gate to go see an Elvis movie with friends when I heard that horrible sound before feeling the quake. I ran out into a field and waited for a very long time watching things and people around me. Some people ran out of their homes and got down on their knees and prayed. I still have a newspaper my dad saved from the first day the Anchorage Times ran their first news of the quake which was on the following Monday. I also remember having to walk up to the Elmendorf entrance to get water and carry it back home with my two siblings and mother for 3 weeks!
@@bluewaters3100 Similar to my experience. No joke for either of us.
I remember reading about this in the NYT. Apparently the Salishan and Wakashan peoples of the area have a story about the last time the earthquake hit, something about a giant whale been thrown from the sky, which created a huge tidal wave that washed everything. Cool stuff.
"Thrown from the sky" is result of "Leaping through the air" changing from "Swept to shore". Stories to tell children around the campfire at night. Very dramatic! Rivers running backward, an standing water effect of waves ricocheting? The ground heating up on Vancouver Island is part of verbal record as well. Perhaps the sand vibrating dust upwards resembled boiling water, so the earth became "like red hot coals" and then the trees started "walking"!
Geoff, your presentation is probably the most clear and easy-to-understand that I have seen. You are excellent at what you do and I always look for your videos. Great Job!!!
Thank you! That was extremely interesting. It would be very appreciated if you could continue this video into the effects it will have on Vancouver Island, Vancouver and The Fraser Valley. 😊
I think we’d have to go to a Canadian source for this.
If you want to really be optimistic, there is a small east-west fault system connecting the Cascadia Subduction Zone and San Andreas system. Likewise, there's indications that the southern San Andreas fault system might link to the Imperial Fault at the US /Mexico border, which in turn, seems to be linked to the Cerro Prieto fault that runs south by southeast across Baha California, Mexico into the Gulf of California.
So, if you really wanna think big, think of a rupture from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada all the way to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico. Every single fault in this list is capable of at least a 7.0 earthquake.
2,364 miles or 3804 km, roughly.
You're welcome! 😎
I experienced a 6.4 quake on December 20 2022 in Eureka California. I cannot even imagine a 9+, the one I experienced felt like someone picked up our house and slammed it down over and over again.
@TheCrispeOutdoors... Rude awakening wasn't it? I live in Fortuna. Experienced many earthquakes in CA from some distance over the years. The Ferndale quake was a serious wake up call.
6.4? Your description is way overstated
@@cwcsquared sure Jan
@@thecrispeoutdoors3721 I was in both the Sylmar & Northridge quakes. My statement stands.
Same, I was walking to my back from and all the sudden it felt like someone grabbed me and tried to throw me to the ground. I’ve been in earthquakes in eureka before but I’ve never felt one that big and powerful before. Another thing that sucked about that one is that it was at night and couldn’t see anything. 9+ in eureka will be devastating.
Nice work.
Very informative. Thanks for the details. I’m right in the middle of this zone. YIKES!!
In 2018 I rafted down a river in Alaska. It amazes me that there were cars from the 1964 earthquake that were half out of the water along the edge of the river.
Good riverbank stabilization.
was that near Homer or Seward? Would love to know which river.
I often have the possibility of the BIG one hitting here in Washington. I've tried to prepare for the worse, but even with that, it's going to be worse than a nightmare. I hope I don't experience such a series of quakes in my lifetime.
I hope we make it
It would be even worse if it took place at night
I now live in Southern Oregon.
We are SoCal transplants.
Went thru the 71, and 94 "big quakes"...in Northridge!
What a mess!
As well as, pretty regular smaller quakes.
Moved to Central Coast of Cali in 99.
Went thru the 03, San Simeon quake also.
Another mess.
That said...we are kinda used to quakes... if that is possible???
We are prepared.
We have 2 wells, and a spring on our property, 2 septic systems that are way over built, and 2 sources of backup power.
We are about 80 miles from the coast, with the coast range of mountains between.
Feel pretty secure here.
But...we have learned, the hard way...that, you never know for sure.
Mother Nature will do her thing, no matter what we do.
It's gonna be another ride, either way. 👍👍
Well if it isn't earthquakes on the west coast, it's hurricanes on the east coast, or tornadoes and derechos in the mid-west. Take your pick I guess, right?
I love the jarringly happy/bouncy transition music!
I’ve just got to say, young man, that your crystal clear presentation of this information is so effective and clear. Thank you.
sucker ! (I say that with a wink. but you buy this crap?)
Agree. This opinion and $10 will still buy reader a cup,of coffee.
"young man"
@@jlscoyserney "crystal clear presentation is so clear"
Ridiculous to think a building code that could prevent them being affected by such a large earthquake
Years ago when I lived in San Francisco, I always had an earthquake warning. My calico cat would dash to the bathroom and hide behind the toilet, refusing to be coaxed out. I knew I had 5 minutes or so to find a good spot in my apartment.
Yes, well said. After Northridge in 94 one of my cats hid behind the toilet and wouldn't budge for a week. Since it hit in the middle of the night we weren't able to observe animal behaviors in advance but our 7 year old came to our bed 30 minutes before, feeling scared. Anecdotally, many friends said the same of their kids, it was weird.
Can an earthquake shake common sense into people??
If Covid didn’t shake common sense into people I don’t think an earthquake would.
😔
I just found this channel so dont know if one has already been done but woild you do one for the fault lines on the east coast, specifically the 125th Street fault, the Dyckman Street fault and the Mosholu faults. What wpild happen to the Northeast if just one of these caused a major earthquake? I currently live in SoCal and have already dealt with a minor 4 pointer but am very interested in learning about other areas as well
Statistically, there is a non-insignifiant chance that one of us will be listening to à video about Cascadia on this channel or elsewhere when it happens. And that's just wild to think about 😊
Great, quick overview of the topic! Only other thing that I would have liked to seen mentioned is the land subsidence that is likely to occur. That, along with the tsunami will greatly rewrite the maps for the PNW coastline.
This clown does a bad job. My guess is that this guy has no idea what has been done to prepare for a possible earthquake.
@gayboyzig Earthquake refitting has been going on in the Seattle area for over 20 years now. Maybe Portland, Oregon has not been doing anything since they enjoy ANTIFA burning the city to the ground.
Also the notion that everything west of I-5 will be destroyed is just nonsense. That is a line out of a magazine article written for an eastcoast publication 10+ years ago. I-5 is not on the coast in Washington and Oregon.
@gayboyzig Wow!!! Sorry to hear that you are triggered and are only capable of handling information by video. Who reads to you?
@gayboyzig Wow!! What a chump you are!! Evidently you must be a joy to be around in public!!
BTW, what is a hot pocket?? Is it what happens when you put your lit cigarette in your pants??
See my reply above. The land dropped 6 feet.
I only knew about the San Andreas fault line. It would seem that a massive effort would be needed to prepare. Perhaps the best way, knowing that it will come, is to plan on relocating. If it were me, I would certainly do so. Thanks for the video. Very informative.
I lived in Paso Robles when the 7 earthquake happened. I heard it before I felt it. As soon as I realized what it was (California native, not my first quake) I thought it had to come from LA because we felt the Northridge quake. I thought oh my gosh this is horrible LA must be leveled. Our horses were freaking out running and bucking, my dog was running circles around me and barking like crazy. I literally could see the ground roll. One leg would rise then the other one. My husband and I were holding each other up. We are due for another and a big one. Good luck west coast people. God bless. ❤❤❤
You should discuss the "New Madrid Fault" 8.4 earthquake in 1832. It occurred in Northeast Arkansas and Southeastern Missouri! It was felt a thousand miles away. It made the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia ring.
It created a ridge 50' tall and 40 miles long. The list of incredible things that happened during this event is long!
I lived in central Illinois in the mid '80's.....fall of '86, I was on a pastoral call when Sappenfield's house was violently jarred, like a vehicle had smashed into the house...no, it was from the New Madrid fault, just a slight burp. I wonder if NMF could ever move again?? 🤔😟
Yes please that would make a great video
I didn’t feel it.
Where’s that ridge?
@@cwcsquared Under your house. Ha ha ha, I was joking only.
One more thing, a large earthquake can possibly cause volcanoes to erupt that are on a hyper ready status to do so - like Mt Rainier and Mt. Hood. They might not erupt but they could. Mt. Fuji became unstable after Japan's big quake but did not erupt.
The ring of fire ain't no joke
Eruptions are not absolutely connected to earthquakes, but they can be triggered that way. No way to be able to predict that, however.
Good point! There's a local insurance policy add-on to cover volcanic eruptions even when caused by earthquakes. And earthquake insurance is pretty cheap!
Definitely wouldn't want to be in Rainier's way when/if it ever goes off.. the view of it from Seattle would be much different.
Imagine what would happen if the earthquake set off Yellowstone as well
It's probably insanely unlikely, but that situation would be insane for basically half of the US
Moved to the San Juans about 8 years ago and this is a concern that's always in the back of my mind.
I'm wondering how an earthquake of that magnitude affects the volcanoes in the upper northwest? Thanks for your informative videos!
"Boom, boom, boom, boom!" -Private S. Baldrick
The Cascade Range volcanoes exist because of the subducted end of the Juan deFuca plate melting under the North American plate. As such, I would expect increasing eruptions in the years following a subduction earthquake. However, I am neither a geologist nor a vulcanologist, I’m just a former emergency worker from within the Cascadia zone. They gave us some information, but I’m no specialist.
Excellent question. The Cascades have been rather quiet, save for Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood is one that is being very closely watched as it has a rather unique plumbing system that includes two magma chambers, one sort of stacked on top of another, and they appear to contain magma that compositionally differs in a way that if the two chambers were to mix the result could likely be a rather explosive eruption. All it would take is a good jiggle.
Generally speaking, there's not much correlation between large mega-thrust earth quakes and increased volcanic activity. That's not to say that a volcano (likely Mt St Helens) wouldn't experience an eruption sooner than what would have occurred if there were no earth quake, but only if that volcano were already on the verge of an eruption. So realistically, we're talking about a few months earlier eruption. Again, that's only if the volcano were already showing sings of a possible imminent eruption before the earth quake occurred.
This is backed up by data gleaned from the previous mega-thrust earth quakes in Japan, Indonesia, Chile x2, and Alaska. In each of those cases, no extra-ordinary volcanic activity was observed.
There is no evidence that a subduction zone EQ would have any impact on back arc volcanism. The process of subduction zone magma intrusion takes place on a geologic time scale (millions of years). An EQ couldn't magically cause an ascending magma chamber to erupt.
Last earthquake I was in, my parrots freaked out a few minutes prior to the shaking, they were flying around the inside of my house.
animals are super sensitive to that ULF vib.
One important detail you've carefully omitted: a magnitude 9 quake 50-100 mls offshore would feel like magnitude 5.0-6.0 along the i-5 corridor. I've been in Bay Area when Napa 6.0 quake happened in 2014 and saw the aftermath - there was some minor damage at the epicenter but very far from "catastrophic". I was living about 120 mls from Napa and didn't even feel that quake because of the typical fade ratio about 3.0 per 100 miles...
here watching from western washington before the cascadia quake hits 🙏 i live just a few miles west of the I5, will update if the quake ever hits
My two children , my wife and myself were in Rio Dell California on 12/20/2022 when they 6.7 hit and it was absolutely terrifying. It destroyed our entire home.
I’m so sorry you and your family had to experience such a traumatic event. I hope you’re able to be back on your feet despite losing your home! Sending love from Texas 🫂
I’m so sorry this happened to your family! I live up in Oregon, and I am worried about this happening. Would you tell me what you and your family did that helped you stay safe during the shaking?
I live across from Seattle on the Olympic peninsula. Submarine base Bangor just closed down there dry dock systems because of potential earthquake. Now when they, the government does something like this 5here has to be some pretty solid support for it.
We also have the shipyard and all the big ships docked in Bremerton. Closing that down would eliminate quite a few jobs for the people in this area.
The New Madrid quake was the most powerfull on record in North America. It was felt from the Front Range of the Rockies to Boston, caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards for 30 minuets, opened up great fissures in the ground and forced ground water and "gasses" into the air. If another quake like that hit the Midwest again it would be chaos as nothing in the Midwest is built to earthquake standards.
curious of where you got the data for the earthquake times... i experienced a 4.0 being 250-400 miles away from the epicenter and although there was barely any damage, the shaking lasted for well over 4 mins. im curious where the time generalizations came from.
love your vids, thanks.
Interesting and timely topic. Kudos to you for mentioning tsunami hazard. Thanks for bringing this to a wider audience. A brief summary of the following content could have been included to differentiate between Cascadia and San Andreas and generally explain thust faulting. Difference between strike slip and subductuon thrust faults. One of the scarier aspects is that the thrust surface that has been locked for 300+ years runs from N. Calif. to B.C. (as mentioned) and from seaward to as much as 50 miles landward. The area of the relieved portion of the fault is a/the major factor determining the energy released. Also no epicenter. Much to all of the fault is likely to unzip during an event. Directions of unzipping will also help determine damages as geometry and type of geologic formations will likely react differently according to from which direction the fault unloads.
My kids went to school in the Puyallup Valley and it’s low there right by the river, and they would have to practice walks up to higher ground every year.
I live in the San Juans. At least the tsunami won't hit us because we're sheilded by Vancouver Island but surviving the earthquake without the infrastructure is plenty a challenge in itself.
I live on the Oregon coast. I've attended lectures at the local US Biological Research Station, by visiting oceanographers and geologists. Quoting one, two to twenty feet of water from the coast to the coastal mountain range, in other words, complete inundation, one to ten miles inland. This is the tsunami about 20 minutes after the 9.0 quake knocks pretty much every building down. The receding waters will take most stuff out to sea. The city council safety meeting once talked about the possibility of cannibalism, as many of the communities are very isolated, and help/supplies will be very slow in coming. Yea. Other than that, it's a very beautiful area, nice people, and no one worries about it much. There are cute little street signs of a wave chasing a person, so we know which way to run.
"cute little wave?" Oy!
I’ve lived in the PNW my entire life, not far from Seattle and my absolute biggest fear is earthquakes. Doesn’t help that I suffer from GAD [so my decision to watch this video was definitely a poor one but I don’t regret watching it] and literally any time a particularly loud plane flies above my house or someone downstairs drops something heavy and wakes me up, my immediate thought is “is this the big one?”, this is also why I had to disable amber alerts. I literally become paralysed for a moment in fear at the thought it could be occurring. This quake is genuinely my greatest fear, especially with the thought that I’d freeze up in this deadly disaster and possibly further endanger myself because of it. I plan to move far away when I finish college, with this being one of my biggest motivators to get the hell out of a place I otherwise feel lucky to live in.
I don't want to tell you it's somewhat irrational to have this fear since the earthquake might happen 100 years from now...or tomorrow. I used to live in Tacoma/Seattle and the thought of it did cross my mind. Admittedly I'm happy to live in a place that doesn't have earthquake issues and it's a little bit of a relief. However, it's the southwest so I get to enjoy the decades long megadrought instead!
@@johnchedsey1306 good luck with your mega drought, sir. Hope y’all are doing okay down there.
@@TheLastJack Tucson got 3 inches of rain last night!
@@johnchedsey1306 good to hear! It hasn’t rained in my part of Washington since June… I miss it, man.
@@johnchedsey1306 Great time to hunt Tarantulas .
This feels pretty scary
Juan de Fuca is pronounced "Wuan de feuuka". Also.....remember the Pacific Mt Range is between the coastline and the I-5 corridor, thus blocking most of any title wave. This range is on average 1000ft high..
Please include Eureka CA as we are very much a part of the earthquake zone
Crescent City Fort Brag and the SF bay area will be impacted as well.
🫡 fello eureka resident, hope ur good after the quake this week
Although I am not a geologist, I would like to comment on something mentioned in this video. Toward the beginning, when explaining the San Andreas fault, it was stated that earthquakes have an upper limit based on the fault. This is not always true. I live in Ridgecrest where almost three years ago today, geologists were surprised when we experienced three moderate earthquakes in two days - 6.4, 5.4, and a 7.1 we are on a complicated fault network, the Eastern Shear Zone. Geologists did not believe any of the faults in that network were capable of a 7.1. Now they are re-evaluating this entire region. But, that was not the first time. In 1992 they were stumped when multiple faults shifted at once producing a 7.3 earthquake near Landers. Not any of those faults alone were capable of something that large. Its quite possible the San Andreas could unleash something larger than expected.
But I would also like to remind viewers that while preparing for some behemoth earthquake, keep in mind you are just as likely to be hit with a smaller localized earthquake that could do significant damage. Having lived in Southern California for 57 years I have seen localized earthquakes wreak havoc on a community; Coalinga, Landers, Big Bear, Ferndale, Morgan Hill, and Ridgecrest are just a few communities hammered by a local earthquake. You need to be just as prepared for those as you would some monster event.
As a geologist living in Oregon, you’re absolutely right. It’ll likely be a zipper effect of smaller zones rather than the entire fault going at once. Even before Cascadia, the fault will release pressure unevenly.
Excellent points. So true. We tend to focus on the very large scenarios but mid-range quakes in some cases can be devastating in their own rights.
The upper limit refers to the force with which the quake releases. It does not refer to the frequency of a quake. That said, you have fore shocks, the main event and after shocks. So most significant quakes seem to come in clusters as the fault builds in pressure on the area locked and adjusts after. Remember that every earthquake is rock breaking beneath the surface. Fore shocks do not diminish the stress. It shifts it to the areas that are holding the plates from moving.
One thing many forget is that northern CA has 2 main fault lines in the SF Bay Area. The San Andreas and Hayward Faults. My assumption is that the Cascadia goes first, triggering the San Andreas and the Hayward faults and then the liquification of the southern part of the bay region such as Milpitas, San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara are on unstable ground and much of the land is subject to sinking and flooding. Much of the highway system there would be lost as well. Possibly permanently.
Don't worry the creator isn't either.
In The Seattle area we not only expect a major earthquake but, towering at 14,000 feet stands Mount Rainier that could also erupt at any time.
Good job Jeff
As PNW native, we talked about this a lot growing up and it gave me nightmares as a kid. Let’s see if my nightmares can be eased.
as a person that lives east of the mountaint range that splits the western side of the state, ive always been curious if ill suddenly be on beachfront property someday
No, the west side of the state is still on the North American plate. It will be the overriding plate while the Juan de Luca plate lines under the NA plate. No one is sliding off into the ocean to be lost forever.
Being on the Markham bridge here in portland, during an earthquake, ranks up in my top 10 nightmares.
Phenomenal job on this video!
Ironically, we just had one today near Riverside, Ca. Probably San Andreas at 10;55 wasn't big.
Yes, we are lucky the last cascadia earthquake occurred 325 years ago, not today. The area was much different 325 years ago than today. You have accurately depicted the impact if the same earthquake event occurred today, which would be a huge disaster. You might also considering doing a video on the 1812 New Madrid earthquake. Same thing, had that occurred today, huge disaster.
1857 San Andreas
There is earthquake damage all over Louisiana in the form of cracks in the hills, unusual deep ravines that make no sense, huge sand blows containing coal, and even craters in the ground where water/gas pressure caused powerful blasts. I thought these were meteorite impacts at one time. We had a few earthquakes when I lived in NW Louisiana and one overturned speakers and broke a lamp in my camper while I was passed out on whiskey. I blamed the poor innocent cat.
I was born in the Anchorage hospital in 1958 and we moved to Washington State in 1961 and lived through the Mt. Saint Helens event. I still live in the state of Washington . Love it here ❤️.
The bubbly, optimistic title card music between sections got me.
I lived in Seattle from 93 to 01 and it's incredibly sad to think this will happen someday in that region. It's the most gloriously beautiful geography I've ever seen anywhere.
The geography will be fine
It'll be the best thing for this region. Maybe change how people come here, cost of living. All that.
None of that’s gonna matter once it hits
Compelling subject, great video! Really love your channel.
Very underrated, not like censoring now and censoring focus channel that are overrated
He really could use with actually bothering to mention that an earthquake like that wouldn't just take out the United States' West Coast it would also affect us up here in Canada
born n raised in Stockton...California all my life....just years ago..I had three dreams of California being engulf by huge tidal waves. These dreams felt so real...I remember asking myself in the dream "is this really happening?"....when the water hits my house is the moment when I wake up from the dream. The first dream was in my house, 2nd dream was in a car with my nephew, and 3rd dream was my same house again. These dreams felt so real, I can still remember every bit of details of it as if it did happened in real life.
Vivid dreams are normal in very creative people.
@@goodfox9250 source?
Yes, it is going to happen very soon (it could be this year) on the western coast per Heaven's messages given through chosen instruments, prophets (for example, Luz de Maria), as a part of chastisement on USA.
@@hyeminkwun9523 nah
@@Lizard1582 Catechism #675 and 677 state that, before the second coming of Christ, the Church MUST follow Her Lord to Calvary, Death, and Resurrection for purification and renewal of the Church and world and salvation of souls.
We have been living through prophesied events in 2 Thes 2:1-12; the great apostacy in 2 Thes 2:3 is already widely spread in the Church, the Katechon in 2 Thes 2:6-7 has been removed with the passing of Benedict XVI, and now we await the public appearance of the Antichrist in 2 Thes 2:8. The great Schism will take place after a false pope denies the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament followed by banning of the Holy Sacrifice of Mass and persecutions of the Catholic Church, fulfilling the above Dogma as well as all calamities prophesied in Matt Chap 24 and Book of revelation.
Whether anyone believes it or not, it is going to happen very soon (I believe this year).
Terrifying but crucial information, this video is very important for me in Seattle, and this is the clearest and most comprehensive explanation I’ve ever seen about what to expect. The cheerful music was oddly jarring at moments, but excellent nonetheless.
I live in central WA and all the recovery exercises I have seen are west coast centric if you consider everything west of the cascades as being damaged initially then the effective initial response will come from areas further inland, and the faster these resources can come up to speed will mean lives. It is sad to see nothing being done in this respect
I'm sure something is being done. A few smart people are moving inland.
I live in Yakima.
I think this video overestimates the likely damage in major cities such as Portland and Seattle. The reason being that they are quite far from where the earthquake is likely to happen.
Seattle is about 150 miles from the Cascade fault at its closest. But, it's much farther away from the more active part of the fault off the southern Oregon coast. If the quake occurred off the coast of Cape Blanco in southern Oregon, that would be over 250 miles from Portland and over 400 miles from Seattle.
The 2010 Chile earthquake was a major megathrust subduction quake that lasted three minutes and measured 8.8 on the Richter scale. Santiago, the largest city in Chile, was about 250 miles from the epicenter. Santiago sustained major damage, including some building collapses, but it was hardly wiped off the map. Less than 5% of the population in Santiago experienced homes that were destroyed or severely damaged.
I didn't get the impression that he thought those cities would be wiped off the map, only that the older buildings that have not been engineered to withstand earthquakes will likely be destroyed, which in the case of the PNW, is a lot of buildings.
I thought I read somewhere, part of the problem with seattle and other areas of puget sound is that they're on sediment, which amplifies shaking. I feel waterfront city prospects look pretty grim in puget sound. It's true though that it highly depends on where exactly the epicenter is.
Canada too! A worse case senerio I saw showed Vancouver island drop,and the water going over top Mount Arrowsmith! Scary! All one can domin that case is say "see ya!"
As someone who lives on Vancouver Island, this scares the shit out of me.
I'm on the southern tip of the island my heart dropped a little while watching this
You're fine. The island is on bedrock amd it wont get it anywhere nearly as bad as the video states.
I went through the Northridge Quake, most frightening natural disaster I've ever experienced, ever!
I have been through that area back in 2016. I live in New Zealand on the South Island and our main area of concern is the Alpine Fault which the experts are saying is overdue for another quake which could be a magnitude 8.
Thank you for this concise synopsis that is easily understood by this lay person. My daughter and her husband are engineers and he's an expert in quake proofing structures. She explained that everything learned about the effects of earthquakes can only be learned AFTER the event. That's why earthquakes have scientists going in droves to sites after a quake hits. I think I read that Seattle would be in grave danger from tsunami since to this point there's no evacuation plan that would work because of the unavoidable bottleneck it would create. Fascinating and frightening all at once.
In 2008 when we had a small earthquake near Cincinnati, my cockatiel woke me up. She was screaming and throwing herself against the inside of her cage!
5 minutes later, I felt it
Please do a video about the New Madrid Seismic Zone. If an earthquake happened there the entire eastern half of the country would feel it because of the geography.
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll add it to my list of topics 😃
Including the I-5 rebuild project which is going to be a completely new bridge over the Columbia River.
It was revealed that if a cascadia earthquake happens a tsunami would reach far down the cost. Depending on how powerful the earthquake is the tsunami could damage cities in Baja California.
@@GeographyByGeoff I have a suggestion for you; nstead of focusing just on the United States for this video, why don't you spend a few minutes mentioning Canada, and how we'd be equally fked?
It would have added maybe like 3 minutes to run time. If that.
@@Shinzon23 ruclips.net/video/c5uYynPjYWc/видео.html CTV Your Morning, posted July 22, 2019 "what would happen to BC if the Big One were to hit the west coast'
I’ll gladly go down with it! No better place to live! 😊 I wouldn’t want to live after it happens. I was born in Ca and lived here my entire 58 years and I have never felt an earthquake! I’m moving to the Oregon Coast.
Trying to get an on-time Max train in Portland is hard enough. I can't imagine what it would look like if a big one hit.....
I remember some of the first photos I saw were of the places where there was most extreme up thrust.
The earthquake in Fukushima lasted more than five minutes.
USGS, Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, University of Washington have collaborated on modeling / producing M 9.3 Scenario Earthquake - Cascadia Megathrust. Impact on various aspects of this disaster on infrastructure and inhabitants has been documented and are worth a read.
I'm moving back to the PNW after a few years in California, I experienced both the Northridge in '94 while I was a child and the Ridgecrest a few years ago. My dad was in the '64 in Anchorage and the '94 with me. We both hope that's enough experience for the Big one but it's going to be unlike anything anyone has experienced.
🙋♂️ worked summers for WSDOT. We were earthquake retrofitting the freeway in 2019 - 2020
I'm in the PNW now, only 2 miles from the mighty Columbia River. The bridge that spans the river is 105 years old, but kudos to the engineers--it still does what it was designed for, going up & down to allow huge ships to pass through. The danger for the new bridges isn't the bridge itself, but the layers of roadway making up the ramps leading to and from the bridges. They would all pancake together, with tremendous effect. It's scary to think you could be caught on the wrong side of the bridge and not be able to go anywhere. Of course, it was terrifying to have Mt. St. Helens erupting with a nuclear power plant a scant 30 miles down river. That whole event was a lot of unknowns. The Trojan Nuclear Power Plant is long gone, but I remember announcers in the radio reporting on the Red Zone on the mountain growing a foot per day--that's solid rock, swelling up--and the outline expanding until it couldn't take the pressure any longer. For a kid, it was scary but thrilling. For most scientists and urban planners, I'll bet it was a bit more of a nightmare 😅
I spent about 5 years in Washington State. I spent time living near Mt. St. Helens, near Ocean Shores, and finally right by the Columbia River. I learned a lot about natural disasters and with Mt. St. Helens that damage sometimes is never repaired. With Ocean Shores I learned that there is no place safe there. The only true chance for people is to escape but with the only highway is right on sea level, that’s going to be a nightmare. Another thing is liquefaction. Even if someone lives high enough, there’s a good chance that they’ll be affected by liquefaction which will severely affect their ability to get to safe ground. For those who survive, they’ll have to wait for 2 weeks at least for emergency evacuation.
I was thinking about Long Beach & Ocean Shores, they will vanish.
@@1Kent it looks like everything west of I5 will be wiped out.
I live in Ocean Shores. Yep, we're basically screwed. I've had dreams about huge tidal waves for a large part of my life.
These subduction zones actually build tension over time and then suddenly release it all and then the cycle starts again. Theoretically, the sooner it happens, the less the magnitude will be but if it happens later we have better infrastructure to deal with it.
Not like we can choose when it happens but that would still be a hard choice if we could. I think I would choose sooner because the tsunami would be lesser and who knows what the sea level will be in a century.
Interesting points! Especially about the sea level. 🤔
I was in the Kobe quake in ‘95. I lived two hours away but my place was shaking badly and a lot of my things fell onto the floor. It was so bad that I thought it was happening in Nagoya because it was closer. But I later found out it was Kobe, where I had been a week earlier!
this is comforting
coming from someone in Vancouver
I live on South Vancouver island and we have dozens of small quakes every year
I grew up in California and experienced some of the big ones, SF ‘89, Mendocino ‘92 and Northridge ‘94. I now live in Oregon and this Cascadia quake scares me more than any of that, mainly due to the lack of preparedness but also the size. Frightening. Water. Have a LOT of water.
Prepare your home, get water, food, alternative shelter and tools stored and then relax. You've done what you can.
@@mrotting thank you!! I’m prepped! I was referring to the lack of preparedness in the PNW as a whole, mainly infrastructure etc. it’s going to be ugly ☹️
I was in the 89 earthquake. Moved to Southern Oregon as well in 2001. I moved to northwoods wisconson last month because I just can't stay on the West Coast because of the possibility of a major earthquake and wildfires. I sleep better now.
I have been in two earthquakes living in the PNW (33 years). 1993 which was barely felt where I lived in Everett, WA. My dog acted very bizarrely the night before, maybe 3 or 4 hours The larger one but still mild in my location was Feb 28, 2001. Our anniversary. Seattle had much more damage and again I barely felt it. It knocked a couple picture frames off the wall. I have most everything I need if we ever had a big earthquake. I only need bottled water. Use to be 1 gallon per person per day. But I think it may have been raised. Now I have more to worry about because i am on many medications
I remember the Feb 28, 2001 very clearly. I lived in Everett when it happened and was relaxing on the living room sofa when I first heard very loud noises thinking there was construction work outside. Then the sofa was moving side to side and everything else was shaking. It lasted for almost a whole minute. I was not injured and surprisingly only a few dishes broke and there was no other damage. I'm afraid we are due the big one in this area very soon.