Columbia Gorge Dispatch

A few days ago, my friend Michael Totten posted an interesting — and disturbing — post on his site about a potential earthquake that very well could hit the Pacific Northwest in our life time. Read the whole thing, and the referenced article on Willamette Week:

In the reasonably near future, perhaps within our lifetimes and quite possibly as soon as tomorrow, an earthquake will strike Portland with roughly the same force felt this month in Port-au-Prince.

But while the Jan. 12 Haitian quake lasted less than 40 seconds, the shaking in Portland will continue for at least four minutes. Portland will feel a quake with a strength, duration and destruction never before experienced in the developed Western world.

Our cataclysm will begin 75 miles off the Oregon coastline. The ocean floor will split, sending shock waves racing under the water as fast as 17,000 mph. Those shock waves, felt first as a rumble, will slam into Portland in 30 seconds. The rattling will grow into a pulsing undulation that will repeatedly shove the ground up and down as much as 6 feet.

Landslides will ensue in the West Hills, sending mansions crashing on top of each other. Several of the 10 bridges across the Willamette River will collapse—the Steel Bridge, Sellwood Bridge and Marquam Bridge, most likely—and the rest will be impassible. Big Pink and other office towers will sway so violently their granite and glass facades will shear off and crash into the street, piling rubble up 4 feet deep. The Multnomah County Courthouse will tumble. Underground gas, power and water lines will be pulverized. The soil beneath the Portland International Airport will temporarily turn to soup.

About half an hour later, a 30-foot wall of water will crash into the Oregon coastline, with the tsunami flooding as high as 100 feet above sea level, sweeping in and out for hours.

This is not a pitch for the next Hollywood disaster movie. It is the scientific consensus on what will happen here sooner or later. And the latest data suggest it may in fact be sooner.

Wow. In the past, I’ve heard that the Portland, Oregon area has the potential of being hit by a serious earthquake, but honestly, I didn’t have a clue that it could be that bad.

My wife and I try to take emergency preparedness seriously, and this is one very good reason you should, too. Especially, of course, if you life in the Pacific Northwest, but really, this just shows that there’s no completely safe place. Store some food that will last, water, a couple flashlights in good working order, and some emergency medical supplies. You don’t need to go crazy, but I’d say a couple weeks worth of food and water should be considered a minimum for things like this. It the kind of situation outlined above my the Willamette Week, it just might be a couple weeks before dependable help could make it to your location. Play the “what if?” game in your head. What if an earthquake happened when I was at work? What if it happened when my kids were in school? What if my neighbors needed help? Could I offer assistance? Lastly, from the stories in Haiti — and around the world in similar situations — the last thing you want to be is a refugee.

The last thing you should ever think is that it could never happen here, where ever you may be.