Prepare for the inevitable
Published 9:15 am Wednesday, April 21, 2010
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there’s a 100 percent chance an earthquake will occur today. They offer this sort of absolute certainty based on statistical evidence and scientific data tracking thousands of daily earthquake episodes rattling our planet.
While they can determine the likelihood of an earthquake, the best and brightest minds in science are still unable to predict when, where or at what magnitude a quake will strike. If pressed, experts suggest a higher than average probability that an earthquake will rattle the infamous “Ring of Fire” region, which roughly tracks the coastline of the Pacific Ocean. For folks in the Puget Sound, this designation also represents the confluence of huge shifting “fracture zones” and the lively Cascadia Subduction fault, easily capable of producing a megathrust quake of a 9.0 magnitude or higher. There’s no doubt it will happen here — absolutely no doubt.
In the aftermath of the recent 8.8 megathrust quake in Chili, it isn’t hard to imagine what could happen if a large trembler hit our region. Bridges will likely collapse, disrupting transportation and commerce, large landslides could reshape the geography of our coastline and a broad tsunami has the potential to quickly and violently swamp a massive area with churning water.
Fortunately, the folks who work in emergency services are taking the threat of a massive earthquake seriously. Their energies are appropriately focused on assuring our region is as prepared as possible to move from reaction to response and later recovery following a devastating national disaster.
Their efforts also include a healthy dose of community outreach to assure citizens understand their roles and ultimately their responsibilities following a regional catastrophic event. They caution people that emergency personnel will be engaged in life-saving endeavors and won’t likely be in a position to respond to damaged households or even neighborhoods for several days (or perhaps weeks).
To assure that we’re all able to take care of ourselves for what could be an extended period of time, residents need to assess their risks, develop a plan, organize their supplies and work together as a community to assure the safety of the most vulnerable in our population including young children, the elderly and our pets. Getting the message out about emergency preparation to non-English speaking people is vitally important.
Since we don’t believe for a moment that the good people in emergency services are the “I told you so” sort, everyone ought to pay attention to their warnings now, before disaster strikes. Because afterward is too late.
