been 324 years since the last major Cascadia subduction zone earthquake a lot has changed since then including the millions of yearly visitors and thousands who call the Washington coast home this emission by FEMA's Risk Index could have massive impacts on how Coastal communities get the funding to save lives and put thousands of people next to a ticking time bomb with nowhere to go there is nothing quite like the serenity of the Washington State Coast but 70 M offshore deep under the seafloor o
f the Pacific Ocean a sleeping threat lies called the Cascadia subduction zone a major fault line that will cause the biggest earthquake in ensuing tsunami our region has seen in centuries this simulation shows in just 15 minutes after the earthquake begins a massive wave hits the beaches boardwalks and waterfront property then schools homes and businesses Inland a wall of water and debris taking out everything in its path you can see how far in the ination level goes Hannah cleverly is the emer
gency manager for Grace Harbor County it just keeps going it just keeps moving Inland it would be catastrophic cleverly is a part of a group of emergency managers in the State questioning FEMA's latest National Risk Index or NRI they rely on maps like these for state and federal grants to build lifesaving structures the map looks at every county in the United States assigning risk ratings to threats like landslides wildfires and winter weather the problem is a threat that the Federal Emergency M
anagement agency seems to be ignoring all of the Washington Coastal counties were assigned relatively low to relatively moderate tsunami risk even though some coastal cities would be buried underwater it would be catastrophic for Grey's Harbor it'd be catastrophic for uh for Pacific County Jefferson County colum County all of these counties that reside on this on the coast it's going to be catastrophic for us this is a 10-ft pole now imagine these waves behind me on the south end of Westport in
a 9.0 subduction zone earthquake those waves would be 50 feet tall five times the height of this pole oh I would say the risk level is as is as high as you can get Chris Goldfinger works at Oregon State University so I do what's called submarine paleo seismology he studies ancient earthquakes along the Cascadia and San Andrea's faults Goldfinger contributes to an earthquake archive that goes back over 10,000 years he says the next big earthquake will hit soon these are not theoretical things tha
t yeah this might happen 20% sometime in the future this could literally happen today and if I was living in coastal Washington right now I'd be you know I'd be beating the bushes to try to get towns and counties and the state prepared uh because we're not even close at this point according to Washington State's Emergency Management officials 50 to 80 vertical evacuation structures like these need to be built these buildings have multiple stairwells leading to a reinforced roof top deck built hi
gh enough it's hoped to stay above the water there are only two with a third one approved last year for many on the coast as a tsunami approaches these types of structures will be the only chance of survival a recent Bond measure failed in Grace Harbor County to fund vertical evacuation structures at schools and Ocean Shores these structures cost millions and it's more than local governments can take on themselves when there's only so much pot of money and you know really who gets the design who
gets to make the final decision on who gets what they're going to look at uh maps and they're going to look at hazards and the Risk Index If I Were King and if I were the the head of FEMA I would pull the report and just take it off take it off the air right away and and revise it make it make it match what's uh uh what's known about the science take it out of circulation until that can be done but FEMA says that's not part of the plan Casey you got me okay yep are you able to hear me okay okay
in one of FEMA's first interviews about the NRI we spoke with the lead manager of FEMA's National Risk Index in Washington DC a lot of the data and information that goes into modeling Hazard loss and Hazard loss information is not consistently available across the country the NR data only goes back to 1800 100 years after the last major Cascadia earthquake we haven't seen a Cascadia event and since 1700 so 324 years um which makes it really challenging to understand what the actual impacts woul
d look like along the coast today instead the plan is to release an update at some point in the future after working with national tsunami Hazard mitigation Partners is there a sense of urgency behind this work absolutely we always want to provide the best available data and resources for communities for planning and you know updating our tsunami Hazard is one of our key components it's one of our focuses in our next data release coming up FEMA would not give us a timeline for this release how b
ig is your team Casey it's a small team can you tell me how big it is I'm just curious there there there are um five federal employees um just just for reference um and the national Risk Index is a um not the only product and tool that we operate and maintain uh we have several others within our portfolio that we manage do you wish you had more why suggest a bigger team right now to update the NRI those five employees have to crunch decades worth of historical disaster data and to do it for ever
y census tract in the United States all 73,5 s of them this is a good reminder to know your evacuation routes when you're out on the coast you may not have a lot of time to get to Higher Ground and in many cases it's going to be better to walk fast or run not drive in studio Brian McMillan Fox 133 news
Comments
We (oregon) were told by Fema that anything west of I-5 is considered a total loss and they have no plans for us after the earthquake. The state also said it would be close to 2 years before they could restore "normal" out here. We took that to heart and decided to move to higher ground. We also provide nearly all of our needs ourselves.
Imagine if this happened and then Rainier erupted as well.
I'm terrified of this. There is very little high ground along the coast. Some of the few evacuation routes are on gated, locked roads. If you are at the beach, don't get too far away from your car, and as soon as the temblor starts, run. I'm not going to stop visiting the Ocean, but the danger is always there.
As someone that lives an hour+ drive from the ocean and on the east side of I-5 we have mapped inundation zones, printed local maps, have food, water, filters... anyone closer to the ocean than we are should know they will be without help for 3-6 weeks. Maybe longer. Especially if FEMA is not actively planing a response. Add in threats of Chinese/Russian cyber attacks, power grid attacks/failure, etc... and the disaster has potential to be truly unimaginable.
i lived most of my life in southern Louisiana's hurricane paths. Sorry to say but in a natural disaster that big everyone will have to rely on themselves, neighbors, and other civilians for help. FEMA will be no help. You'll be lucky if the cops and national guard can or will help you. Be Prepared
FEMA did not forget this I worked with them for the last three years in the army at their bothell office every year we had an exercise for this exact event. Horrible title
Spent a lot of time in Ocean Shores, WA and surrounding areas. Anyone who finds themselves way out on that sandbar when the quake hits is a goner - Make your peace with God because there ain't no way you're getting off before the wave hits. Apart from that, inland 3 or 4 miles are hills which would provide safety from a 30' to 50' wave, but good luck getting that far on foot and you sure as hell won't be able to drive in in a car - all roads would be severely damage and even if they weren't, they'd quickly become a parking lot. A dirt bike would likely be your only saving grace; just make sure it's gassed up and you have a solid trail picked out with NO bridges to cross. Have a well-concealed cache of water, freeze dried food and a survival tent stashed up in the hills to support yourself and any family that makes out it with you. Due to downed bridges, destroyed roads and obliterated logistics, don't expect help for several weeks. Oh, and make sure you have a gun and plenty of ammo stashed up there (you'll likely need it - less for hunting and more as protection against desperate members of your own species).
Thumbnail is Cannon Beach in Oregon......I didn't think we'd become part of Seattle yet. Though, sooooo many Washington license plates down here you'd be excused for thinking it.🤔
They expect coastal regions to drop by about 30 feet when the subduction quake hits. For reference, the entire town of Ocean Shores is less than 30 feet in elevation, which means it will be permantently lost beneath the ocean. Yikes.
Thats funny, I met a high up from Fema, visiting WA from the east coast, was very serious about getting straight to the point about Cascadia and made NO bones about it. Mass Devistation. If you have the abridged version, its cherry picked, truth out, no on gives a blank, the pnw is majorly depressed, information is in one ear out the other. sad really
Footage of the 2011 Japan Tsunami is one of the scariest things I've ever seen on video.
There is no way to prevent or ameliorate such a tectonic event. The timeframe to evacuate or reach high enough elevation to escape such a tsunami just isn’t long enough to avoid massive loss of life. The only way to protect these populations is to permanently move inland and prohibit development in the projected zone of the tsunami.
Obviously no building permits should be allowed in areas which would be inundated. All of the lands which would be inundated should be gradually made into a National Park.
I wonder if the US govt values us more than Hawaii. Spoiler alert: they don't
I used to go to Longbeach for the 4th every year...used to .After seeing the absolute destruction of the SE Asia tsunami in December of 2004 ,and learning about the Cascadia fault and what happened with the previous tsunami ,there was no way I could spend time there knowing there's no way to really evacuate or find higher ground . Sure they post evacuation routes but say it's the fourth of July with thousands of people on the beach watching the fireworks and the "big one" happens ,there'd be absolute chaos and massive casualties . I recall one year they estimated that almost a million people had visited Longbeach on that weekend . There's been talk of building a bridge on the north side of the area to connect it to the mainland part of Washington but it always gets shot down,too much money etc etc . This is why federal funds should pay for the bulk of it . We sink almost a trillion dollars into the military every year and what do we get for our investment besides more conflicts around the world when that money could be used here at home to save lives and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure but I digress
Lahaina! NEVER FORGET‼️
There’s a lot of things that are due in California too . San Francisco Bay Area still waiting for the return of the giant earthquake and Sacramento area is also waiting for the big flood to return.
If you thought FEMA screwed NOLA after Katrina, wait until that inevitable earthquake hits.
You have 15 minutes to get to high ground. Allow me to quote Nelson Muntz: "HA ha!" I do believe I'm in the splash zone. I don't think they forgot it. I think they realize there won't be much left to rescue.
Pentagon - $990,000,000,000 1000 military bases around the World. Ukraine - $120,000,000,000 in < 2 years. American lives on the coast $ ???