New data: Mega-quake could strike near Seattle

WASHINGTON — Using sophisticated seismometers and GPS devices, scientists have been able to track minute movements along two massive tectonic plates colliding 25 miles or so underneath Washington state's Puget Sound basin. Their early findings suggest that a mega-earthquake could strike closer to the Seattle-Tacoma area, home to some 3.6 million people, than was thought earlier.

The deep tremors, which humans can't feel, occur routinely every 15 months or so and can continue for more than two weeks before they die back to undetectable levels.

The instruments are detecting an inch or two of movement — known as "episodic tremor and slip" — as the Juan de Fuca plate grinds and sinks beneath the North American plate. Closer to the surface, the two plates are locked together. When they snap, scientists say, it could produce a massive 9.0 or greater earthquake and a tsunami.

By comparison, the largest earthquake ever recorded was 9.5 on the Richter scale, in Chile in 1960. The largest in North America was the 9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake in 1964, which killed nine people and spawned a tsunami that struck the Northwest coast. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which killed 750 to 2,500 people, was estimated to be an 8.2.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/73757.html

If the animals start acting funny, do something. I'm not sure what if it is a quake of this magnitude.

We hear it here a lot in Salt Lake, since the Wasatch Fault runs right through the city and is expected to result in a major quake within the next 50 years.

Nothing you can do. Just because it might happen closer to Seattle than thought doesn't mean it's more likely to happen any time soon.

This one may be no better than the others. However, they are looking at very specific plates.

If it happens as they predict :

Good news - we can predict earthquakes with some certainty

Bad news - your city was the one that was in the center

If the Big One hits, 3,500+ dead.

It'd make it the deadliest earthquake in American history.

Much of this is because Salt Lake just does not have the building codes of west coast cities.

There was a study that said if a Northridge-style quake had hit Salt Lake, the death count would have soured into the thousands.

Since, we've tried to earthquake proof many of the buildings, but a majority of Salt Lake's housing is brick. My house is brick.

Brick is the worst.

1920's era, been thru a lot, but don't think it will survive that. my landlord reassured me that the wooden frame/brick combo is relatively sturdy, but he probably just wants to keep a solid renter. oh well, stressing won't help, but I know I will have a harder time than usual sleeping tonight! I worry most about my cats, and keep 3 carriers handy in my small space, but a heck of a lot of good that will do is my building is leveled. I just hope I can be here with them if it happens.

:hug:

and really, nowhere really is safe during a 9 pointer. plus it's good to light a fire under me to get more prepared. wonder if they make helmets for cats?:)

and every LDS church will collapse with their big brick walls.

What if, what if, what if, they've been trying to put the FEAR into people for decades now. California slides off into the ocean, Yellowstone is going to blow, now Seattle is going to die. This all could very well happen, but we don't know when, and since we're dealing with geological time here, it could very well be in the span of generations, long after we're gone.

Don't worry about this sort of stuff, if it happens, it happens, there's nothing we can do to prevent it, or even mitigate the damages.

When I was a kid, I was convinced the Big One they kept talking about was going to hit.

I'd lie in bed at night and listen to the dogs bark and be convinced it meant the quake was about to happen.

Nothing came.

Not to say it won't happen. But if it does, it does. No point in going around worrying about it because frankly, that doesn't change anything.

You're never going to be ready for a major quake mentally. When it hits, you'll panic, you'll freak out and then you'll probably die.

haha