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holycatwomanbatman11 karma

Interesting chart. I've never seen that before. Being in Tacoma (Hilltop), I didnt realize that I would be caught in between two flows. I just assumed that being on high ground would suffice. Should I consider an 'escape' route or you think resources would be able to reach me the same as say, Seattle, which wouldn't be in between two lahars?

holycatwomanbatman5 karma

Worth mentioning that the level of shake will depend on other variables such as the exact location of the slip, the distance of the slip and the type of land/earth that the seismic waves will encounter along the way. Historically, there are far more smaller quakes along the Juan De Fuca plate than there are full rips. (Full rip: the entire plate slips in one event which, extends from southern Alaska to Northern California.) If I'm not mistaken, the vast majority of partial slips occured off the coast of Oregon. I'm not super familiar with the geology of Portland but, similar areas like Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle are built upon basins with looser soils that tend to magnify the shaking at surface levels. That all said, if I was in Oregon, I'd make dang sure I had an emergency plan in place. No matter if its a full rip or a partial slip located off yhe coast of Oregon, Portland is going to FEEL it.

holycatwomanbatman2 karma

Washington has a couple already (link below) but, to your point, we're not nearly where we need to be. The culture of preparedness that Alyssa speaks of is already in the works....it's just inherently slow moving. Unfortunately, the people with the knowledge dont have the money, and the people with the money dont have the knowledge. Hard to finance expensive infrastructure that will inevitibly remain unused 99.9999% (or so) of the time.

https://youtu.be/Q8maMqggVlssi=yRxbqp87QF7hm9xE

holycatwomanbatman2 karma

Looking back on the more-recent large quakes that producsed tsunamis (Thailand and Japan), I noticed that their major bays and ports were strategically fortified with large wave-breaking structures and retaining walls. Even then, the tsunami's still managed to topple over and cause mass casualties. I have not seen any similar structures along the Washington coast that would help to dampen the initial tsunami wave impacts. Should the lack of our fortified shores warrant increased concern for residents along (and even well into) our coastline?

Also, I recall hearing a singular historical instance where one of our volcanos erupted on the same day as one of our fault slips. Has there been any new research into how the larger-format quakes with their extended shaking durations may affect (or not affect) today's volcanic regions?