Earthquake
Throughout life, many people hear of events that though they can neither imagine nor experience firsthand they are told they should fear regardless. Climate change, nuclear war, and viral diseases becoming immune to modern antibiotics are all various examples of fearful catastrophic possibilities.
One feared event that I have always heard of since I was born was the prospect of another major earthquake hitting the Northwest, or to be more exact, Washington and Oregon collectively.
To put it simply, an earthquake is the result of two or more tectonic plates which are extraordinarily large masses of the earth’s crust grinding together to create vibrations far beneath the ground. Normally it is called a creep when the scraping process is consistent. Creeps are responsible for making the minor tremors that people in the Northwest experience occasionally. However, when tension builds up over time and is released, larger tremors or as we call them earthquakes can occur according to the USGS website
The two plates in particular that would be the culprit behind an earthquake disrupting the Northwest would be the Juan de Fuca Plate grinding under the Northwestern side of the North American plate under the North Pacific Ocean. This area of contact is labeled the Cascadia subduction zone by geologists
What is interesting to note is that the last big earthquake to hit the Northwest was the Spring Break quake. According to the California Department of Conservation's website under “Frequently Asked Earthquake Questions,” an earthquake that has measured 5.6 on the Richter scale is seen as a “moderate” quake while one with a magnitude of eight or more is considered major. This makes the Spring Break quake appear to be no more than a minor tremor in comparison. The Richter scale works by taking the data from seismic waves gathered by seismographs and creating numerical values to the information.
California is a state that has at least two hundred faults labeled possibly dangerous because at any time they could set off an earthquake. Unfortunately, due to Oregon having more vegetation than California it is more difficult to calculate how many lethal faults Oregon has. The San Andreas fault is a transform fault that stretches across the state of California. A transform fault otherwise known as a strike-slip fault is when tectonic plates move past each other. The tectonic process when it comes to transform faults have more consistent grinding than the Cascadia Subduction zone which is a convergent plate boundary and produces less frequent earthquakes.
When it comes to the structure of most Northwesterner’s homes and offices the use of masonry is far from uncommon. Many years ago it was common for buildings to be built with these bricks and nowadays most houses are made with more flexible materials. In an Oregonian interview a journalist did with Franz Rad, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Portland State University, it was found that the reason masonry is so dangerous is because most masonry is unreinforced and it is difficult tell if it is since you would need to get behind the concrete in order to tell if by some chance it is. It appears that in the end an earthquake better not happen anytime soon since it will take a while to update everyone's infrastructure.
Overall the fact that preventing earthquakes is next to impossible and that Northwest infrastructure is dangerous, abundant, and difficult to maintain it is guaranteed that the Northwest will face major damages in the event of an earthquake. A major earthquake will bring tsunamis and fire. People need to recognize that an earthquake should not be something that gets pushed to the back of their mind but rather something we are all consciousness of and ready for.