Posted on 06/04/2016 8:10:56 AM PDT by BiggerTigger
Imagine a devastating earthquake and tsunami have cut off Pacific Northwest coastal communities. Phone and internet service have collapsed. Ham radio operators living on the stricken coast fire up their radios, contact emergency managers and report on the magnitude of the disaster so that no time is wasted in saving lives.
This is the kind of scenario that will be rehearsed during the second week of June in a massive earthquake and tsunami readiness drill that has been developed by the U.S. government, the military, and state and local emergency managers over the past few years to test their readiness for what — when it strikes — will likely be the nation's worst natural calamity.
The June 7-10 exercise is called Cascadia Rising. It is named after the Cascadia Subduction Zone — a 600-mile-long fault just off the coast that runs from Northern California to British Columbia.
"This is the largest exercise ever for a Cascadia break," said Lt. Col. Clayton Braun of the Washington State National Guard. Braun has been a key planner of the doomsday drill, which is being overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Federal officials say about 20,000 people will be involved in the disaster drill, representing various federal agencies, the U.S. military, state and local emergency response managers across the Pacific Northwest, Native American tribes and emergency management officials in British Columbia.
One main goal of the exercise is to test how well they will work together to minimize loss of life and damages when a mega-quake rips along the Cascadia Subduction Zone and unleashes a killer tsunami.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I’ve never visited that area and knowing my luck the earth would open up just as my plane was about to touch down. :-)
I wish those people well—a very frightening scenario.
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These articles are NOT helping my house sell.
Especially since I’m right on the water.
There used to be quite a few self-identifying HAM radio operators on FreeRepublic.
I wonder if there is a ping list for any FReeper hamsters (or whatever they call themselves)
I demand that the gubmint issue each citizen 300 lbs. of ice cubes that we can huddle under practicing for when the "Big Char" strikes!.
It's for the children!
The lefty alarmists really do like doing the Chicken Little, don’t they.
Folks can study and practice for the ham radio test online, as well as find groups in their area.
I’ve been meaning to try hamming, but in meantime have acquired a CB.
Never mind that the last Cascadia Subduction Zone megaquake may have occurred in 1700. If I lived my life waiting for all the dire predictions of the last 30-40 years to come true, I would be a total wreck. Predictions that a megaquake was overdue along the Pacific Northwest coast have circulated since the 1960’s. A mini-ice age was supposedly developing in the 1970’s, which would result in wide spread death and chaos. Global warming was sure to kill most of us starting in the 1990’s, a huge asteroid or meteor strike is sure to wipe out many any day now, and the magnetic north and south poles are reversing and may result in untold destruction of life as we know it. Oh, yes, and the Yellowstone caldera is overdue for a huge eruption that will wipe out much of the United States. Never mind that the last such eruption happened over 640,000 years ago, it could happen again . . . any day now. As the saying goes, “sh*t happens.” Live your life to the fullest, because every day is a gift.
Having been through a little weather event called Hurricane Katrina, I now actually believe that advance preparation—which we did not have prior to that event— is a verrrry good idea.
But I would add the caveat, that, while government can and should coordinate **some** services, particularly dissemination of information, families can and should prepare to be self-sufficient, rather than relying wholly on the government.
Preppers call this ‘having a bug-out plan.’
Good advice, mumblypeg!
The only means of transportation that will be reliable will be the copters.
Everything WEST of the Cascades will be damaged, some beyound repair, and everything along the coast will be gone.
The interstate will have nearly no bridges standing. Every single public service will cease to exsist in most places.
They now understand that the effects will be devestating well onshore-even to Portland, as the effects will be much closer than originally thought.
In short, you are on your own for quite some time.
When that fault slips, and it will, it will be a mag 9+ and will last for at least 5 to 6 minutes. The latest underwater studies have found that the fault has bulged the land up into the Cascades...some feet in many cases. This is a subduction fault and not like the sideslip faults like in S California. The same as the Japan earthquake and the Boxing day earthquake in SE Asian.
Yes...you might dismiss the idea that the ‘Chicken Littles’ are going on and on about the possibility that the Cascadia will let go someday. Yes...it is true that “s*** happens”, and yes...we should live life to the fullest because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
Being that I live in western Washington and lived through the Nisqually quake in 2001...we have a tendency to take this stuff VERY seriously.
It is known that the Cascadia DID let go in 1700. We know this due to geologic and other evidence on this side of the Pacific. We even know the date that it let go from records kept by the Japanese around that time (the tsunami the quake generated devastated several Japanese coastal villages). Right now, it is the ONLY megathrust fault around the Pacific that HASN’T had an event. Geologists have known for some time that Cascadia is “locked up” and the tension is building towards a time when it WILL let go. When it does, it’s going to be one of the most devastating disasters in US history.
The ‘Cascadia Rising’ exercise is just the various governmental agencies practicing for the real thing in an attempt to find out where the ‘kinks’ are in communications and how local, state, and federal agencies can work together better. I, for one am glad they’re doing this since my life and the lives of my family WILL be impacted when the Cascadia lets go. I don’t have to worry about tsunamis as I’m well inland of any body of water. However, the accompanying earthquake will likely cause widespread damage in the area where I am.
(As a side note, I work at JBLM. The parking lot of the facility where I work is going to be used as a triage site for the exercise.)
One blessing, there’s plenty of running water.
Personally, if I lived out in the country around there, I would pound a point into the ground with a cistern pump on it. Listen to the elders how they got along without all the modern day crap we all have now. People will be OK if they find out from the old folks how they lived without running water.
The safest place to be, as far as buildings go, is a single story wood framed house.
Along the shore? In the city? Its a lottery if a person survives.
Great for the folks along there. Good job.
One of my friends is a geologist prof at Mich Tech. He and I have talked about this quite often. Last time-few years ago now, we talked about this he told me that the people he knows in the field are really alarmed at the bulging high up in the ranges around there.
At that time, we took out a map and took a look at the dams around that area. His guess was that at least 10 per cent would fail from over topping created by landslides into the water above them. There simply will not be enough time to release water to prepair for the event at those dams. Eugene Ore has one above it that he indicated as a prime suspect.
The one thing we talked about is how the death rate could be less from the quake, but increased by the civil unrest after the quake. He and I agreed that, that might be the real problem. IE Katrina in New Orleans. Have they considered local members of localities for deputations for security? Should.
I agree with what you said. We should take it all very seriously and I am really glad to see some proactive movement on the part of various governmental agencies to prepare for the possibility of a megaquake in the future. From over here on the east side of Washington State, I wish you all to be safe if anything does happen.
While visiting Lake Quinault in the Olympic peninsula a few years back we drove over to the Coast, Pacific beach I believe. The roads are all marked with Tsunami evacuations directions. They know it’s coming. I read that there was a major quake there around 1700 estimated to be 9.0 Coastal Forests dropped into the sea. I guess the time frame was determined from Japanese records of a major tsunami from that year not attributed to a local earthquake.
Light weight mountain bikes will prove highly desirable. Can be carried across the worst debris, ridden on remains of roadways, taken cross country as terrain allows.
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