They’re impossible to predict but inevitable in our future. Washington has a high risk of damaging earthquakes.
“Washington has, second only to California, the greatest risk from earthquakes in the country,” said Harold Tobin, Director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.
Many people may not realize it. Earthquakes happen sporadically, and our region’s most recent damaging earthquake was 24 years ago.
Washington has dozens of active faults and fault zones, including under major cities like Seattle and Tacoma, and urban centers in Snohomish County.
“The earthquakes might be smaller, but the damage could be really much worse,” Tobin said.
Significant earthquakes on these faults would likely cause mass property destruction, isolate neighborhoods and cause a slew of injuries and even deaths.
Recovery could take months. In some cases, it could take years.
“One would expect the power to be down, natural gas lines to be broken, maybe water and sewer lines to be broken,” Tobin said.
Offshore, the Cascadia Subduction Zone has the power to produce “the big one.”
“That can send a tsunami and also really damaging shaking,” Tobin said.
Our most recent damaging earthquake was the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually Earthquake of 2001. The earthquake caused hundreds of injuries and millions of dollars in damage.
Washington has had about 15 large earthquakes (earthquakes with a greater magnitude than 5) since 1870.
“The fundamental reason is that we sit right at the place where two of Earth’s big tectonic plates meet,” Tobin said.
Native American tribes have also helped inform today’s scientists about earthquakes that occurred more than a thousand years ago.
“The most significant would have been the crustal earthquake of about 1000 A.D. that occurred on the Seattle Fault,” said Nancy Sackman, Cultural Preservation Officer with the Duwamish Tribe.
According to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, the earthquake caused parts of Bainbridge Island to lift 35 feet and triggered a tsunami in Puget Sound.
https://www.seattle.gov/emergency-management/hazards/earthquake
Stories passed through local tribes’ oral history, are some of our earliest accounts of earthquakes in Washington.
Despite our history, and recent damaging earthquakes, experts stress we’re not fully prepared for when the next one hits.
There are things you can do to get ready. KIRO 7 will be airing stories to help you plan and prepare all week long, and adding these tips to our website too.
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