OMG Earthquake?

[Warhippy]

Unprecedented level of large earthquakes this week

 

Unprecedented number of current volcanic eruptions currently happening 

 

http://www.infowars.com/5-major-earthquakes-in-48-hours-as-a-seismologist-warns-catastrophic-mega-earthquakes-are-coming/

 

I'm not an alarmist by any means.  But if you live near the coast.  Keep a kit handy

[CanadianLoonie]

5 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Unprecedented level of large earthquakes this week

 

Unprecedented number of current volcanic eruptions currently happening 

 

http://www.infowars.com/5-major-earthquakes-in-48-hours-as-a-seismologist-warns-catastrophic-mega-earthquakes-are-coming/

 

I'm not an alarmist by any means.  But if you live near the coast.  Keep a kit handy

Sold by Alex Jones?

[inane]

31 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Unprecedented level of large earthquakes this week

 

Unprecedented number of current volcanic eruptions currently happening 

 

http://www.infowars.com/5-major-earthquakes-in-48-hours-as-a-seismologist-warns-catastrophic-mega-earthquakes-are-coming/

 

I'm not an alarmist by any means.  But if you live near the coast.  Keep a kit handy

Any sentence that starts with 'I'm not a ____, but...' means you are exactly that lol

[inane]

And I actually just clicked on that link and LOL

[CanadianLoonie]

3 minutes ago, inane said:

And I actually just clicked on that link and LOL

You find news of people dying from earthquakes funny and amusing?

[inane]

27 minutes ago, CanadianLoonie said:

You find news of people dying from earthquakes funny and amusing?

Yes, you've totally accurately and succinctly captured my position on this topic. Congrats! 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

4 Canadians now confirmed dead in Ecuador earthquake:

 

Quote

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says that four Canadians are confirmed dead as a result of Saturday's earthquake in Ecuador.

 

Montrealer Jennifer Mawn and her 12-year-old son Arthur Laflamme had earlier been identified among the dead. The identities of the other two Canadians killed have not been released, as consular officials work to locate their family members.

 

Over 400 people were killed and more than 2,500 injured in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake along the country's Pacific coast. Casualty figures are still rising as emergency teams search for missing people.

 

Speaking to reporters before question period Tuesday, the minister said that Canada will be giving $100 million to humanitarian organizations working in the region to address basic needs.

 

Bibeau said a small team of three people from Global Affairs Canada and three people from the Defence Department are travelling to Ecuador to assess what the country needs and make recommendations on the best way for Canada to help.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bibeau-ecuador-earthquake-canadians-aid-1.3543250

[Pears]

A 5.2 magnitude just happened in Cali. Slightly unnerving...

[RRypien37]

13 minutes ago, Pears said:

A 5.2 magnitude just happened in Cali. Slightly unnerving...

How come? Hundreds if not thousands of earth quakes happen every year. 

 

At least a couple dozen on the west coast. 

[SaintPatrick33]

[Kragar]

I never knew about it.  It wasn't mentioned on the radio during my drive to work this morning.  Probably not a bad location for it, since it is not nearly as populated that far inland.

 

Checking online, it didn't sound like there was anyone hurt or any real damage done.  Another day in the life here in California?

 

It can be a weird feeling though.  I was staying in one of the Disney hotels here about 15 years ago, and there was a quake just as we were about to go to bed.  We were on the top floor, and feeling the whole building sway for a minute or two was an interesting experience.  We took about an hour to settle down after that. 

 

3's and 4's are no big deal now that I have experienced a number of them here.  5's can make things interesting, but likely still small enough so that it does little more than rattle some nerves.  It was kinda funny one time while I was working in Tokyo, with a handful of US employees scattered from West to East coasts, and there was a quake.  The Japanese and us Californians barely noticed it (might have been in the mid-3's), but the New Yorkers were freaking a bit.  It's all what you are sued to, I suppose.

[Diamond NHL]

If the big one happens here.. would it be the same as like the walking dead where people will kill each other for supplies and food, or is that only for world wide disasters?

[trek]

26 minutes ago, Diamond NHL said:

If the big one happens here.. would it be the same as like the walking dead where people will kill each other for supplies and food, or is that only for world wide disasters?

I doubt it would be like Fukushima where the Japanese were lining up to pay for supplies with cash at the supermarket (without power).

[Rocky Balboa]

6 hours ago, Diamond NHL said:

If the big one happens here.. would it be the same as like the walking dead where people will kill each other for supplies and food, or is that only for world wide disasters?

There would be rioting and probably multiple petty crimes.  Then the army will come in and likely set curfews.

 

But the first week or so will be everyone for themselves. 

 

[Grapefruits]

One thing this thread is good for.  Bunch of doom and gloom fear mongering that the big one is imminent, and then nothing until the next round of fear mongering.

 

I actually met someone a couple weeks ago that actually lives in constant fear that the big one is about to hit.  Almost everything she does revolves around a potential earthquake happening.  Crappy way to live a life if you ask me.

[Diamond NHL]

4 hours ago, Grapefruits said:

One thing this thread is good for.  Bunch of doom and gloom fear mongering that the big one is imminent, and then nothing until the next round of fear mongering.

 

I actually met someone a couple weeks ago that actually lives in constant fear that the big one is about to hit.  Almost everything she does revolves around a potential earthquake happening.  Crappy way to live a life if you ask me.

That actually used to be me, but I've settled down a bit the past 3-4 months.

[SaintPatrick33]

5 hours ago, Grapefruits said:

One thing this thread is good for.  Bunch of doom and gloom fear mongering that the big one is imminent, and then nothing until the next round of fear mongering.

 

I actually met someone a couple weeks ago that actually lives in constant fear that the big one is about to hit.  Almost everything she does revolves around a potential earthquake happening.  Crappy way to live a life if you ask me.

 

Would you blame her though? This govt couldnt even handle wind storms of a few years ago LOL people were without power for up to 4-5 days, just think if an earthquake or Tsunami occurred, GL relying on the local authorities to quell the disaster. 

[-SN-]

12 hours ago, Grapefruits said:

One thing this thread is good for.  Bunch of doom and gloom fear mongering that the big one is imminent, and then nothing until the next round of fear mongering.

You know, I used to be in the same camp as you, but I've softened that stance a little bit. It's easy to be flippant, but awareness is important.

 

I think that a large earthquake happening on the west coast is a matter of time. Could be now, or hundreds of years from now, but it will happen. It's not something to fear daily, but it's definitely something to be serious about and prepared for. 

 

This is from a 2015 New Yorker article, which thankfully sticks to the science rather than fear-mongering(suggested reading):

Quote

In fact, the science is robust, and one of the chief scientists behind it is Chris Goldfinger. Thanks to work done by him and his colleagues, we now know that the odds of the big Cascadia earthquake happening in the next fifty years are roughly one in three. The odds of the very big one are roughly one in ten. Even those numbers do not fully reflect the danger—or, more to the point, how unprepared the Pacific Northwest is to face it. The truly worrisome figures in this story are these: Thirty years ago, no one knew that the Cascadia subduction zone had ever produced a major earthquake. Forty-five years ago, no one even knew it existed.

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

 

From the same article:

Quote

Thanks to that work, we now know that the Pacific Northwest has experienced forty-one subduction-zone earthquakes in the past ten thousand years. If you divide ten thousand by forty-one, you get two hundred and forty-three, which is Cascadia’s recurrence interval: the average amount of time that elapses between earthquakes.....Counting from the earthquake of 1700, we are now three hundred and fifteen years into a two-hundred-and-forty-three-year cycle. 

Now, I don't know about you, but I think it's rather naive to think that this pattern is at an end. If anything, we're overdue. 

 

So, considering an earthquake is probable, how prepared is the area for a large earthquake?

 

I've recently had the benefit of being in Japan, and it's altered my perspective on earthquake preparedness significantly. I've felt a couple heavier earthquakes (not pleasant), and seen the response to the recent Kyushu quakes, and it's really made me think about what would be different back home. My conclusion is that the west coast is woefully unprepared. For instance:

• Do you know how earthquake proof the buildings you reside and work are?
• Whether or not you're in an area that could be heavily affected?
• Do you know disaster protocol?
• Do you have an emergency kit at home?
• Do you know where the closest emergency assembly area is? 

Chances are, nobody can say yes to any of those, or one or two at most. When I moved to Tokyo I could answer yes to 4 of these within a week without even trying.

 

To be fair, earthquakes are far, far more common here, but it does serve to indicate an intense lack of awareness regarding emergency situations and services on the west coast. When I move back, I'll be buying an emergency kit and I'll take some time (10 minutes is all it takes) to research potential dangers and disaster protocol where I live. It's a small thing to worry about, but I think everyone has a duty to be prepared. 

[chon derry]

having been through 3 quakes recently on the north coast the one was registered at 4,5 was more scary and abrupt than the one in late october 2012  7.7  in comparison had a smooth feel to it like you were in a small skiff ,a smooth swaying feel, and the lesser one had a more jagged feel to it . hopefully the big one has that smooth feel.

Edited June 11, 2016 by chon derry

[Mainly Mattias]

On 2016-06-11 at 7:48 AM, StealthNuck said:

So, considering an earthquake is probable, how prepared is the area for a large earthquake?

 

I've recently had the benefit of being in Japan, and it's altered my perspective on earthquake preparedness significantly. I've felt a couple heavier earthquakes (not pleasant), and seen the response to the recent Kyushu quakes, and it's really made me think about what would be different back home. My conclusion is that the west coast is woefully unprepared. For instance:

• Do you know how earthquake proof the buildings you reside and work are?
• Whether or not you're in an area that could be heavily affected?
• Do you know disaster protocol?
• Do you have an emergency kit at home?
• Do you know where the closest emergency assembly area is? 

Chances are, nobody can say yes to any of those, or one or two at most. When I moved to Tokyo I could answer yes to 4 of these within a week without even trying.

 

To be fair, earthquakes are far, far more common here, but it does serve to indicate an intense lack of awareness regarding emergency situations and services on the west coast. When I move back, I'll be buying an emergency kit and I'll take some time (10 minutes is all it takes) to research potential dangers and disaster protocol where I live. It's a small thing to worry about, but I think everyone has a duty to be prepared. 

Good on you, Stealth.  Yes, Japan is better prepared then North America.  Earthquake emergency safety is built into the culture there.  That'll be the difference between how a city in Japan would recover/survive a huge earthquake versus a major city here in NA.

 

There are government bodies and municipalities which are recognizing the need to address the lack of preparedness, though.  Washington and Oregon just finished with a 4 day mock 9.0 earthquake and tsunami simulation called Cascadia Rising (Port Alberni and southern BC conducted their own simulations). 

 

If anyone is interested, here is the link to the Cascadia Rising Exercise Scenario Document, which really goes into detail about what towns could be wiped out, what infrastructure would be affected (bridges, roads, water treatment facilities, communications and power, etc) and how many casualties to expect.  Really fascinating stuff - all hypothetical but good for awareness.