Seattle Earthquake Piece in the New Yorker (Pacific: homes, neighborhood)

[Traxan]

If what the author said is true, then you are doubly-****ed because SeaTac will be destroyed, as will much of the 5 freeway. The only way help will come in is through the 90 and that's not a particularly wide stretch of freeway. If you are lucky it will be south enough from Everett field so that can be used to fly in rescuers/equipment/relief supplies.

Amazon will probably be wiped out, or live on in data centers outside Washington. Microsoft could/should survive.

What scares me is all those nuclear subs you got at Bangor. Hell, you can see them on Google Earth. If anything happens to them, it'll make Fukushima look like a sunburn.

[FrankSpencer]

Who has earthquake insurance on their home? I'm starting to think we should have it

[pnwguy2]

While the essay was well-written and well-researched, I too think it was a bit over the top. The author is definitely describing the worst case scenerio, which may or may not play out. However, that doesn't mean we can't do a better job of being prepared. Economic collapse is not inevitable. I have faith in humanity that even if the worst happens, the city will come together and rebuild.

And it bears repeating...most areas in the U.S. have natural disasters. It is part of life on earth.

[RVD90277]

lol, this article is getting a lot of press today. i even have one co-worker who called an earthquake retrofilling company to get a quote to retrofit her house and they said that their phones have been ringing nonstop with requests so they are weeks out from being able to get anyone over to look at her house and they are months out from actually being able to schedule the work being done.

i'm korean so i lived for years in a country with a strange dictator and government just a few miles north of my home in seoul. everyone simply lives in denial just like everyone here lives in denial.

...ignorance is bliss.

as for me, i have supplies and food in my house that will last at least a week but probably more like 3-4 weeks. we have 2 water heaters that have 85 gallons and 40 gallons of water in them . i have a well for water as well although it's for landscaping and i think it needs electricity to pump the water up.

our toilets are all connected to our septic tank.

i live on the top of a hill pretty far east of the I-5.

etc...i think i'll be ok or as ok as anyone can be in this area.

[bloom]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

lol, this article is getting a lot of press today. i even have one co-worker who called an earthquake retrofilling company to get a quote to retrofit her house and they said that their phones have been ringing nonstop with requests so they are weeks out from being able to get anyone over to look at her house and they are months out from actually being able to schedule the work being done.

i'm korean so i lived for years in a country with a strange dictator and government just a few miles north of my home in seoul. everyone simply lives in denial just like everyone here lives in denial.

...ignorance is bliss.

as for me, i have supplies and food in my house that will last at least a week but probably more like 3-4 weeks. we have 2 water heaters that have 85 gallons and 40 gallons of water in them . i have a well for water as well although it's for landscaping and i think it needs electricity to pump the water up.

our toilets are all connected to our septic tank.

i live on the top of a hill pretty far east of the I-5.

etc...i think i'll be ok or as ok as anyone can be in this area.

isis

[misscross]

time to work on emergency supplies. these articles are interesting and maybe everybody's tired of the San Andreas fault scaremongering so they have to come up with something newer to sensationalize. Having lived at various points in the Ring of Fire and experienced earthquakes at those various points, I think I'm ok staying here in the PNW east of the I- 5

[Garfunkle524]

For anyone who's interested, two resident earthquake experts and the science writer for the Seattle Times did an AMA earlier today on Reddit. It's a good read.

Some key takeaways:
- The quake will be pretty devastating, but the dire circumstances painted in the article border on hyperbole
- Any tsunami that makes it to Seattle will be tiny. The shaking and liquefication are the real hazards.
- Chances of the megaquake happening in the next 50 years is 10-15%. By comparison, the chances of a repeat of the Nisqually quake in the same amount of time is about 80%.

[mrman78]

Thing is, yeah this would be devastating, but it's a waiting game. Other places have lots of natural disasters every year like clockwork. I would rather take my risks living here for the random earthquake or volcanic eruption, than live somewhere constantly bombarded by lightning, hail, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, etc.

It's kind of take your pick of constant small natural disasters or possible huge natural disasters.

[rockyinyourradio]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

Gotta have a plan. Not only will thousands die, but infrastructure will collapse for a while. Seismic activity has increased worldwide due to even slight global warming. Most of the time we live in denial, but can't be stupid about this and just pretend the threat doesn't exist.

While I do believe it's inevitable that a significant quake will eventually occur, and also believe that to an extent, man is contributing to climate change (perhaps not to the extremes that the media suggests though). I like to see conclusive evidence that man made climate change has a correlation with earthquakes.

[pnwguy2]

Sorry, can't buy into that one. The earth will move despite what us peons do to it.