Monster Quake and Tsunami in Pacific

[Nico]

I have some friends in Japan and, although they have told me they're safe, they are so frightened. What a horrific, sad situation. The video and pictures say it all. My prayers go out to everyone and I am really heartbroken for them.

[David]

An important thing to ask those of you who live near the west coast in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, & Canada (from Cape Mendocino all the way to Vancouver):

Are YOU prepared for the rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone--whose magnitude & tsunami generation would be very closely equivalent to this Japanese event?

Are YOU prepared?

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by David

An important thing to ask those of you who live near the west coast in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, & Canada (from Cape Mendocino all the way to Vancouver):

Are YOU prepared for the rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone--whose magnitude & tsunami generation would be very closely equivalent to this Japanese event?

Are YOU prepared?

I live in Denver, and I'm not prepared for Yellowstone blowing. I'd most likely not live through it anyway.

[estranged4life]

"Bay Area hard rock band HIGH ON FIRE was on tour and set to perform in Tokyo, Japan on Friday when the powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami struck off the island nation's shore, collapsing buildings, touching off widespread fires and unleashing walls of water up to 30 feet high. The US group was unharmed, but shaken after surviving its second natural disaster in sixteen days; the band was also abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand during the 6.3-magnitude earthquake of February 22, the country's deadliest natural disaster in 80 years.

"Our thoughts go out to all the people of the world who have already been through such agony during these tragedies and are now going through much worse," said the band in a statement. "To all those who have lost loved ones in particular, you have our deepest sympathies."

-----------------------------------

An important thing to ask those of you who live near the west coast in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, & Canada (from Cape Mendocino all the way to Vancouver):

Are YOU prepared for the rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone--whose magnitude & tsunami generation would be very closely equivalent to this Japanese event?

Are YOU prepared?

I'm in Oklahoma, and only 20 miles from the Meers Fault, So I am prepared for it:

http://www.meersstore.com/observatory.html

http://texomashomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=104566

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by David

Are YOU prepared?

Pray tell, how does one prepare?

[David]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Pray tell, how does one prepare?

All hope is not lost. Preparation consists in teaching -- or training -- yourself to take specific action under certain circumstances.

If you're on a beach or in a marina & you feel shaking strong enough to knock you off your feet, consider that a sign that the quake is locally generated. Don't wait for Civil Defense sirens (there's even a chance that a tsunami would reach your location before the sirens sounded). Let the quake itself serve as your prompt to gain ground & elevation, either by running inland or by getting into a steel-reinforced concrete building that's at least three stories high -- a beachfront hotel, for example. Get into it! Get upstairs! Use the stairwell.

If you live or work within a half mile or mile of the coast, contact your local emergency management office & ask about tsunami inundation maps, which show you those parts of the coastline that can expect inundation. You should also find out what the evacuation routes are in your area, & memorize them!

Above all, in a remotely generated tsunami, follow the instructions issued by the authorities. If they report that a tsunami is possible in your area in five hours' time, take them seriously.

[McTrouble]

I see these extreme forces of nature and I thank my lucky stars that I live in England.

We folks of the British Isles are so fortunately situated in an area of peace and calm (naturewise and weatherwise).

We moan when we have to put up with a few inches of snow or losing a fence panel because we have a gale force wind now and then.

We don't have to worry about Typhoons, Monsoons, Hurricanes, Tornados, Droughts, Earthquakes, Volcanic Eruptions, Catastrophic Floods, Tsunamis, Deathly Blizzards et al.

Yes, all of us would be in trouble if Yellowstone blew, or a couple of similar calderas in Europe - but these are only "might happens". On the whole we Brits don't have much to worry about.

Why anyone would want to emigrate from our green and pleasant land is beyond me.

My heart goes out to everyone who has to cope with living in an area prone to extreme weather and natural disaster.

[desertangel]

We have earthquake drills twice a year at work. I also have emergency "kits" on every floor of my three story home. The nuclear power plant accident has me a bit concerned and wondering about the jet stream these days. Even though I live within the Cascadia Subduction Zone, I am on the far side of it... I think I'm ready to move to Britain. I feel really bad for the people of Japan and a bit nervous about any kind of whiplash effect such a large earthquake might have on other plates. I grew up around the San Andreas fault and very much used to earthquakes, but subduction quakes freak me out a lot more than thrust faults.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by David

All hope is not lost. Preparation consists in teaching -- or training -- yourself to take specific action under certain circumstances.

If you're on a beach or in a marina & you feel shaking strong enough to knock you off your feet, consider that a sign that the quake is locally generated. Don't wait for Civil Defense sirens (there's even a chance that a tsunami would reach your location before the sirens sounded). Let the quake itself serve as your prompt to gain ground & elevation, either by running inland or by getting into a steel-reinforced concrete building that's at least three stories high -- a beachfront hotel, for example. Get into it! Get upstairs! Use the stairwell.

If you live or work within a half mile or mile of the coast, contact your local emergency management office & ask about tsunami inundation maps, which show you those parts of the coastline that can expect inundation. You should also find out what the evacuation routes are in your area, & memorize them!

Above all, in a remotely generated tsunami, follow the instructions issued by the authorities. If they report that a tsunami is possible in your area in five hours' time, take them seriously.

It is easy to become complacent in an area that seems to be the host of great weather most of the year--bad things can't happen here, not to me. Did you see the LA Times article? It's not whether California is due for a massive earthquake, but when:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...tory?track=rss

As you have been stating over the years:

On a more personal level, each one of us needs to take these warnings seriously and pull our heads out of the sand. Does your house have an earthquake kit for the long days without water, power, food and easily obtainable cash? Has your house been made as safe against earthquakes as possible? Those who ignore these warnings now will regret it later when the next Big One hits.


Do you have a 72 hour kit? Most people do not. It doesn't just apply to California.

http://72hours.org/build_kit.html

And as beautiful as it is, how do people feel living so close to a volcano?

[David]

Originally Posted by Tango

As you have been stating over the years:

On a more personal level, each one of us needs to take these warnings seriously and pull our heads out of the sand. Does your house have an earthquake kit for the long days without water, power, food and easily obtainable cash? Has your house been made as safe against earthquakes as possible? Those who ignore these warnings now will regret it later when the next Big One hits.

Thanks, Tango.

California has at least a small measure of consolation to take--our fault zones would never produce a quake of the size & energy that just struck Japan. We are largely a strike-slip fault region, & any dip-slip or thrust faulting in the state is localized & confined. Nonetheless, our fault systems can generate -- & have generated -- ruptures as big as M7.8-7.9. This is easily sufficiently big to demolish our cities & infrastructure.

But it's the entire west coast north of San Francisco -- from about Cape Mendocino (CA) to just north of Vancouver (British Columbia) -- that will experience what Japan's coastline just experienced: a megathrust subduction zone rupture of magnitude 9, a perfect tsunami-generating machine.

Do you have a 72 hour kit? Most people do not. It doesn't just apply to California.

Everybody listen to Tango!! If you live in an active earthquake region (which includes most of the population centers in California, for example), you need a 72-hour kit! I have one. You should have one, too.

And as beautiful as it is, how do people feel living so close to a volcano?

Such beauty -- & yet it is the very visual indication of imminent disaster. The reason that volcano is there -- & the reason that all the beautiful strato-volcanoes of the Cascade range are there -- is the very subduction zone I mentioned earlier in this post:

CASCADIA!!!!!!!!!!

What happened on the other side of the Pacific a few days ago WILL happen to the West Coast because of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. It last happened on a cold January night in the year 1700. It may very well be "overdue" in seismic parlance.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by David

Thanks, Tango.

California has at least a small measure of consolation to take--our fault zones would never produce a quake of the size & energy that just struck Japan. We are largely a strike-slip fault region, & any dip-slip or thrust faulting in the state is localized & confined. Nonetheless, our fault systems can generate -- & have generated -- ruptures as big as M7.8-7.9. This is easily sufficiently big to demolish our cities & infrastructure.

But it's the entire west coast north of San Francisco -- from about Cape Mendocino (CA) to just north of Vancouver (British Columbia) -- that will experience what Japan's coastline just experienced: a megathrust subduction zone rupture of magnitude 9, a perfect tsunami-generating machine.

Everybody listen to Tango!! If you live in an active earthquake region (which includes most of the population centers in California, for example), you need a 72-hour kit! I have one. You should have one, too.

Such beauty -- & yet it is the very visual indication of imminent disaster. The reason that volcano is there -- & the reason that all the beautiful strato-volcanoes of the Cascade range are there -- is the very subduction zone I mentioned earlier in this post:

CASCADIA!!!!!!!!!!

What happened on the other side of the Pacific a few days ago WILL happen to the West Coast because of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. It last happened on a cold January night in the year 1700. It may very well be "overdue" in seismic parlance.

There was an extraordinary program on the imminent Cascadia subduction zone earthquake & tsunamis - which ranges in breadth across Vancouver to Seattle down through Portland and into Northern California - on the National Geographic Channel last night. It was eye-opening to say the least.

Sometimes it rages...just like the sea...We rock a little or a lot!

[MacMan]

This may have been what you watched... It's a documentary called "Shock Wave".

Coastal towns from California to British Columbia can expect tsunami waves 15 to 30 metres high only 20 minutes after a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

You can watch the full documentary online... Yes, it is an eye opener.

CBC.CA - SHOCK WAVE

[HejiraNYC]

Piling on to the tsunami theme here... Some scientists are saying that the lost continent Atlantis has been found... 60 miles inland in northern Spain!

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/14/...ainland-spain/

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by MacMan

This may have been what you watched... It's a documentary called "Shock Wave".

Coastal towns from California to British Columbia can expect tsunami waves 15 to 30 metres high only 20 minutes after a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

You can watch the full documentary online... Yes, it is an eye opener.

CBC.CA - SHOCK WAVE

The program I watched last night on National Geographic Channel was called: Countdown to Catastrophe: Mega Quake.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Piling on to the tsunami theme here... Some scientists are saying that the lost continent Atlantis has been found... 60 miles inland in northern Spain!

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/14/...ainland-spain/

This was on NGC last night as well: Finding Atlantis. I Dvr'd it, chose to watch Big Love instead - but I cannot wait to watch it.