The Really Big One

[jazzy_dave]

An article about the biggest quake that might happen in the next fifty years but uncertain as to when. And it is not the San Andreas faultline.

The Really Big One

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

We live on the San Andreas fault line and (knock wood), we haven't had a quake in years. Of course, with the shimmying that has happens this morning, it might be starting.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yes; we are doomed. Those who die in the first quake will be the lucky ones, because everything that comes after will be worse. My daughter in Seattle will probably be killed when the century-old brick building she works in 'pancakes' as all the floors shake loose from the walls and collapse. If my bookcases don't get me, the tsunami will, as it destroys my entire town along with every other town on the Olympic Peninsula.

Nobody's doing much to prepare for it because nobody really believes that any amount of preparation will do a bit of good. It'd be like trying to 'prepare' for the destruction of Pompeii, right? The only way to prepare for a disaster of that magnitude is to move away before it happens, and we aren't going to do that.

"Hail, Atlantis."

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

The tragedy, of course, is that there's virtually no preparation, with so much infrastructure set to be demolished, and no early warning system to at least help reduce the extent of the devastation. And as the article notes, with such events occurring there, on average, every 250 years or so, and the last in 1700 - it's not something that's likely to be a very long time in the future.

[kaishin108.livejournal.com]

Too afraid to read it :-D

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Read this when it came out (I get and love the mag) and was shocked, because I'd never even heard of the fault there. The other scary one is the New Madrid fault in the Midwest. Of course, I live on the East Coast, about half a mile from the water, and my house is going to end up underwater thanks to global climate change. With any luck I'll be dead before then, though.

[wantedonvoyage.livejournal.com]

Terrifying and the lack of preparation in the face of such inevitability is sad. I have friends who live there; not right on the coast but certainly within the area that would be affected.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

I hope it waits a full 50 years. Hopefully I won't have to worry about it then. :p
Hugs, Jon

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Scary...