January 26 marks the 314-Year Anniversary of the last Cascadia Earthquake

“The very advances that are the foundations of our modern communities create vulnerability along with convenience” said Michael Kubler, Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (CREW) President. “The revised Cascadia scenario is a crucial tool for regional leaders to use in developing policies and plans for the next earthquake.” Events over the last few years have expanded our understanding of earthquake science and the hazards faced by our region from a future Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone extends along the coastlines of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and southern British Columbia. There’s no doubt that Cascadia is capable of producing earthquakes and tsunamis on the same scale as the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile in 2010 and the magnitude 9.0 quake that devastated the east coast of Japan in 2011. Cascadia’s last great earthquake occurred on January 26, 1700—stresses have been building on the fault ever since. While the full extent of the earthquake hazard was not realized until the 1980s, the Cascadia subduction zone is now one of the most closely studied and monitored regions in the world.

“In 2005 CREW first published the Cascadia earthquake scenario, but so much new information has emerged that an update was needed” said Heidi Kandathil, CREW Executive Director.

The newly updated Cascadia Scenario joins the list of other free products developed by CREW to help the region’s residents, schools, businesses, planners, and emergency managers prepare for future earthquakes. The Scenario and other materials are available online at http://tinyurl.com/m34v2ex  >>>

Josh Bruce, Interim Director, Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience (OPDR), serves as a board member of the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (CREW).