Earthquake study could make Pacific Northwest safer

North Coast Citizen ^ | April 16, 2019 | By Steve Lundeberg, Oregon State University

[Ezekiel]

Findings by a team led by an Oregon State University geotechnical engineer are paving the way toward engineering techniques that could keep Pacific Northwest residents safer during the eventual Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.

By Steve Lundeberg, Oregon State University

Ben Mason of the OSU College of Engineering led a National Science Foundation-supported team that traveled to Indonesia to study the aftermath of the magnitude 7.5 Palu-Donggala quake that occurred in September 2018.

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Roughly 85 miles off the Pacific shoreline, the Cascadia Subduction Zone is a 600-mile fault running from northern California to British Columbia. Over the last 10,000 years, there have been 41 earthquakes along the fault; the time between quakes ranges from 190 to 1,200 years, with the last one an estimated magnitude 9.0 temblor in 1700.

The Geotechnical Extreme Events Recognizance Association, known as GEER, is a 30-year-old volunteer organization of geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists and earth scientists whose mission is to obtain post-disaster information that can advance research and improve engineering practice.

GEER researchers studied five different quake-caused landslides and found unlined irrigation canals – canals without any bed barrier to prevent seepage – were an exacerbating factor. Such canals also exist throughout agricultural lands in areas that will be affected by the Cascadia Subduction quake.

“A substantial majority of the fatalities were directly related to landslides,” Mason said. “Some of the slides occurred along ground with relatively low relief – average grades of around 2 to 4% – and many of them traveled about a kilometer. In at least one location, a breached canal triggered a mudflow that engulfed the initial landslide mass.”

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[Dacula]

Earthquake study could make Pacific Northwest safer

Just pass the test and become certified, then you can stop worrying.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I feel better already.

[Godzilla]

SMH - I guess farmers in Washington state need to get out of the hillside rice patty farming business.

[Ezekiel]

[jonascord]

Landslides are WAY down the list of concerns. Tsunamis, and building collapses, particularly up the Columbia, and along the coast line, are a greater problem.

Landslides will close rail and highway links to the coast, but it's Democrats, so there is always an upside.

[Seaplaner]

I briefly skimmed the article, and I do suspect that the study could yield positive results, mainly concerning landslides of soggy earth.

That said, the biggest worry about a major e.q. along the Cascadia Subduction Zone are the potentially immense tsunamis that will be reflected far back onto shore.

[Lopeover]

Not all Democrats. There are quite a few of us behind enemy lines! ;)

[headsonpikes]

That Vancouver Is. 1946 7.5 almost put a chimney on the head of an almost two year old headsonpikes!

My folks moved to the Okanagan the next month.

[headsonpikes]

That Vancouver Is. 1946 7.5 almost put a chimney on the head of an almost two year old headsonpikes!

My folks moved to the Okanagan the next month.

[Zathras]

Number 1: Don’t live on the Oregon-Washington Coast.
I just saved millions of lives. Where is my $100M grant?
The Oregon Coast is lovely but it is going to be bad when Cascadia snaps.

[TnTnTn]

Yep the Cascadia zone rupture will be due to global warming and Trump whenever it occurs....good thing there is some reason...

[DuncanWaring]

Here’s a tale of the 1700 quake:

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

[whistleduck]

Thanks. Yep definitely safer by a couple magnitudes. Just knowing a cure has been found is comforting. Maybe they could start some back quakes like might be done for a wild fire. Cross that worry off my concerns.

[MeganC]

“Landslides are WAY down the list of concerns.”

Landslides are a HUGE threat and a very real concern in Washington State.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide

“A major landslide occurred 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Oso, Washington, United States, on March 22, 2014, at 10:37 a.m. local time. A portion of an unstable hill collapsed, sending mud and debris to the south across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, engulfing a rural neighborhood, and covering an area of approximately 1 square mile (2.6 km2). Forty-three people were killed and 49 homes and other structures destroyed.”

[numberonepal]

dutchsinse is the best forecaster of earthquakes I know of:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHE92x768p8h-fMrqhsnE1Q

[Waverunner]

Studies don't do anything. It's actions based on the studies. Like not letting rich people build ski lodges on mountain sides. Oh, I forgot, you can use your carbon offsets to stop environmental disasters. Just ask Al Gore.

[43north]

I practice medicine near the town of Sandpoint, ID. Three years ago we participated in a “Cascadia Earthquake Drill”. About 20 or so “patients” showed up at my clinic. None of the “advisers” could answer my simple question of how they got here.

[PIF]

Earthquake study could make Pacific Northwest safer ... if you study something dangerous and in all probability a real future event, if will see that you are on to it and slink away with barely a whimper. You are now safe and can continue to attract more homeless drug uses will crap on your streets while you laugh at the normal people protesting them.

On second thought, do us all a favor and stop studying

[Parmy]

Well, they were studying Mt. St. Helens in 1980. Guess what? It blew anyway and inundated much of Washington in ash and ground up aggregate.

So, how much good will all of this do? When Mother Nature blows her top, humans are insignificant.