SEATTLE July 22 (DPI) – The New Yorker magazine this week published a lively essay on overdue seismic activity in the Pacific Northwest, in which earthquakes and tsunamis could devastate a region that the author says is structurally vulnerable and unprepared. The article, by newly hired New Yorker writer Kathryn Shulz, traveled well on the internet this week, earning a comment string on Reddit and prompting comments net-wide.
But based on both the nature and volume of comments on a major Seattle news site – that of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer — residents of the Pacific Northwest aren’t exactly shaken. Those who did comment said they have been well aware of the risks and prospect of a major seismic event, they are prepared for surviving without basic services for days or weeks, and they don’t care much about a something with as uncertain timing as a seismic event. The PI featured a single blog post on the subject,and that post included only 14 reader comments.
The New Yorker article, headlined “The Really Big One,” shuddered with a tone of certainty that the Pacific Northwest’s so-called Cascadia Subduction will act up soon, and that seismic event will devastate the region and kill thousands or tens of thousands. The tone of certainty gave the risk of an earthquake and tsunami an immediacy that led some readers to believe that such an event would occur tomorrow or next week.
Of course – and as the author of the New Yorker article points out – geologic time has its own schedule, and the inevitable seismic event is years or decades or even centuries away.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/3d6mbd/serious_what_is_your_reaction_to_the_new_yorker/
One of the most popular comments on reddit.com today:
I’ve been aware of the earthquake risk here for over 20 years. I grew up in California, was in SF for the ’89 Loma Prieta quake, and when I moved here I already knew about the potential for a quake that would make ’89 look like fun times in a bouncy house.
Do I worry about it? No; there’s really no point. It will happen in my lifetime, or it will not, and either way it’s completely out of my control. If I was truly uncomfortable with that, I’d move elsewhere. But I intend to spend the rest of my life here because no other place has felt so much like home. So if I die in a quake or its aftermath, so be it. If I lose my house and all my stuff, I can replace it. I’m staying.
That said, I do keep emergency supplies on hand, have attached tall furniture to the walls, etc. I’m confident I could do okay in a quake the size of Loma Prieta. But to be honest, if the Big One hits, it’s going to be hard fucking times. I have too many pets to be able to bug out–assuming there would be anywhere to bug out to–and what if sheltering in place is not an option? What if the entire neighborhood burns down? How to deal with looters and other dangerous folks (as I don’t own, and don’t want to own, a firearm)? There’s no good answer to those questions, so I pretty much just leave it all to fate and don’t drive myself crazy by dwelling on it.