Forget San Andreas: Why You Should Be Worried About the Cascadia Subduction Zone
Wow, this article is… well, it’s something else. Written by Kathryn Schulz, The Really Big One is an eye-opening (and if I’m being honest – terrifying) look at the Cascadia subduction zone.
While the general population is familiar with the San Andreas fault, the Cascadia subduction zone is less well-known… mostly because scientists didn’t even know about it 45 years ago.
The estimates of what might happen as a result of a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami are staggering:
While the damage itself is scary, what’s even scarier is the fact that Cascadia’s caused earthquakes in the past. This is all a matter of when. Not if, when. By all accounts, we are due for another earthquake and we are woefully underprepared for it:
Chew on that one for a little while.
The Really Big One is an absolutely fascinating read, and well worth your time. Forget all the natural disaster movies out there – this one? This one is way scarier.
[via @bibliogrrl and MetaFilter, illustration by Christoph Niemann]
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“Wineglasses, antique vases, Humpty Dumpty, hip bones, hearts: what breaks quickly generally mends slowly, if at all.”
avoision (July 14, 2015 at 2:03 pm)This was the scariest article I had read in a very, very long time.
Meg (July 14, 2015 at 2:12 pm)i’ll be right here, drinking a whiskey as my house crumbles around me. hopefully i can watch rainier blow as the shaking happens
derrick (July 14, 2015 at 3:11 pm)-cascadian.