Seventy miles off America’s Pacific Northwest lies a fault line named the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which is from Northern California to Vancouver Island. In the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a oceanic plate is being pushed under the North American Plate. Every few hundred  years the oceanic plate buckles upwards, and then the process repeats. Whenever the plate buckles upwards, a large tsunami and earthquake results. The major victims of the disaster are people residing in California, Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island.

   Through studying core samples of the sediment on the ocean floor, scientists have determined that a major earthquake is caused by the plates every 240 years. The last major earthquake caused by the plates was 315 years ago, so the area is  well overdue for a major earthquake by approximately 75 years. This earthquake may be the largest one that people living in North America have ever experienced, at an estimate magnitude of 8-9.

   Since seismologists predict a pending disaster on the way, many places are gearing up for the potential tsunami/earthquake. In preparation, schools in Washington are building vertical evacuation structures on top of school buildings. The structures will have walls that are 14 inches thick, and 44 feet high. The regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Kenneth Murphy, estimates a minimum of 10,000 fatalities from the tsunami.

   Some cities in the northwest are trying to prepare for the earthquake by creating laws that require new buildings to be able to withstand a major earthquake. Millions of people residing in coastal towns could be potentially stranded because of collapsed roads and bridges. Fortunately, the United States has the ability to detect the pending tsunami/earthquake and prepare for it before it strikes. Federal, state, and military officials have confirmed that they have response plans in place for the Cascadia earthquake.

Regardless of preparedness, one thing is for sure.  The danger is real.