Earthquake scenarios for WA State

[ATCclears]

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[fyrediver]

Earthquakes in this region are a virtual certainty, not a matter of if, but of when. We should all be prepared for local damage from one.

I have an Earthquake alert App on my phone which sends out alerts on quakes. You set the parameters. It seems to work pretty well.

I keep a small GHB in my car with sufficient supplies to allow me to walk home over the course of a couple days if necessary.

 

[Sun195]

Earthquakes are really why I got into prepping in the first place. If any of the other stuff happens, I'm still ahead of the game.

 

[AMProducts]

I always love these "dire" predictions. Fact of the matter is, it probably won't be the big one to kill you, most of these studies are suggesting a death toll up to a "thousand", how many people live in your area? Your chances of survival of the quake are good. However, this doesn't mean you won't be injured by the after effects of such an event, namely power outages, flood, water delivery issues, and all kinds of other chaos.

From what I've seen nearly all of the major public works projects that go on in the PNW are all water related, this means controlling water. As a consequence many of these systems will be the first to fail, you should probably find out how dry the land your house is built on has been since antiquity.

This is a good place to start: <broken link removed>

 

[smurf hunter]

I don't think the main risk of an earthquake is injury or death, rather having to live during a localized collapse of society. What would happen if all of Puget sound lost electricity for 10 days?

What if no delivery trucks made it to Safeway or QFC for a week?

Chances are most modern single family homes will remain safe and in tact. It's the unprepared bozos in society that are the big risk.

 

[2506]

There should be a big one anytime now. That, or Rainier will pop and the ensuing lehar will repave most of the surrounding area.
But really, prepping for the ten days of chaos makes much more sense than waiting for the zombie apocalypse.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Our upcoming home on the Olympic Peninsula is at 1000 feet elevation and will be 8 inch core ICF construction.. We plan a 10 + year supply stockpile for our team. We'll survive

 

[AMProducts]

I don't think the main risk of an earthquake is injury or death, rather having to live during a localized collapse of society. What would happen if all of Puget sound lost electricity for 10 days?

What if no delivery trucks made it to Safeway or QFC for a week?

Chances are most modern single family homes will remain safe and in tact. It's the unprepared bozos in society that are the big risk.

There are a few things to remember about western washington... first, there are tons of agricultural areas, they grow food, there is tons of fresh food available all over the area. The good news is, that the bridges will probably be wiped out, and all the hipsters who don't have cars will have no way of getting out. Which leaves plenty of food for those who live in the rural areas. As far as electrical generation, the ones who would be really screwed by an earthquake that interrupted electricity: california. They buy all the hydro-power from washington and oregon because it's "green" meanwhile we use coal to generate electricity for local use.

It's likely other places on the west coast would fall apart more quickly.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

BTW the greatest danger if Rainier blows is a wave of poison gas

 

[Oklahomie]

I just learned of the lehars... I am el screwedo

 

[Slowpoke]

I just learned of the lehars... I am el screwedo

Did you mean lahar?

Lahar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[AMProducts]

I just learned of the lehars... I am el screwedo

How are you screwed? you're too far away from both baker and rainier to worry about either.

I think if everett has anything to worry about it's tsunamis and liquefaction.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

People will be dead around Rainier long before the hot mud hits. One whiff of that gas and it's curtains

 

[Kevinkris]

Our upcoming home on the Olympic Peninsula is at 1000 feet elevation and will be 8 inch core ICF construction.. We plan a 10 + year supply stockpile for our team. We'll survive

maybe we should be friends

 

[Rusoarmo]

BTW the greatest danger if Rainier blows is a wave of poison gas

Any masks or such that can help avoid this you'd recommend?

 

[Tony617]

You should also have an automatic shutoff valve for your natural gas line in case of an earthquake. You should also have a combination gas shut off/water main tool to shutoff the water and gas off to your house.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001CSCC7I/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_1?qid=1369277341&sr=8-1-fkmr0&pi=SL75

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Any masks or such that can help avoid this you'd recommend?

I doubt there are any rated for such gasses. Your only hope IMO would be to have a sealed, high quality bunker shelter with oxygen tanks and the best rated masks and decontamination suits. One problem is these gasses will temporarily eliminate most of the oxygen, even if you had a rated mask. maybe with an oxy tank on your back to feed the mask? If you've ever seen the devastation at Mt St Helens (We did, hiked right up to Spirit Lake in 1993, it was astounding and I have pics.. it was unsurvivable, like a 20 megaton nuke. The only animal life we saw were insects

 

[Kevinkris]

I doubt there are any rated for such gasses. Your only hope IMO would be to have a sealed, high quality bunker shelter with oxygen tanks and the best rated masks and decontamination suits. One problem is these gasses will temporarily eliminate most of the oxygen, even if you had a rated mask. maybe with an oxy tank on your back to feed the mask? If you've ever seen the devastation at Mt St Helens (We did, hiked right up to Spirit Lake in 1993, it was astounding and I have pics.. it was unsurvivable, like a 20 megaton nuke. The only animal life we saw were insects

likely right about a lack of O2. the problem with concentrated gases being released in an area, is that they will displace the air present the moment before. when you have some much volume it acts a lot like a fluid. the other problem is that if you are getting the gases, it will likely be getting more dangerous in the next few seconds. when the air is too hot to live in, you wont really be worried about breathing.

and rusoarmo; the best tip would be to live away from volcanoes and stay out of the valleys that surround them.

 

[Sun195]

If you're in the path of a volcano when it erupts, your ticket is going to get punched unless you're real lucky. Try to stay away from them when they make grumbling noises.

(I hiked to the crater rim of St. Helens in 1992 - it was like looking down into Dante's Inferno or something. Very active the day we were up there with steam coming up and rocks tumbling down the sides into the crater. Not a difficult hike from a technical standpoint - worth doing at least once. Best to go when there's some snow on the ground - would rather hike up/down snow than ash/etc.)

 

[AMProducts]

You should also have an automatic shutoff valve for your natural gas line in case of an earthquake. You should also have a combination gas shut off/water main tool to shutoff the water and gas off to your house.

4 in 1 Emergency Tool:Amazon:Sports & Outdoors

Have the tool, but avoid the automatic shutoff valves, down in socal there was a huge push to install these everywhere, the problem is, they would often trigger too easily (<4.0 quakes) and the problem is, a dude from the gas co needs to come out to turn the thing back on. So if a mild quake hits, you have no damage, but your gas is shut off you could be in a world of hurt for no reason because of those stupid things.