This story was originally written in 1994.
"William Steele, the Seismology Lab Coordinator at the University of Washington Geophysics Program, has a son, Chris, who goes to elementary school." He comes in sometimes and he loves to do stuff. "It seemed he & # 39; d recently put a "What an excuse!" Steele never got get into the program he & # 39; d wanted to show me.
I had headed out to the UW in search of information on recent earthquake activity in the Puget Sound region.
"Oregon is reliably quiet next to Washington." Klamath Falls could not be noisier, said Steele, ticking off the numbers: September 4th, 5.9; Sept. 20th, 5.9, 5.0, 4.3; Dec. 4th, 5.1; and Christmas Day, 4.0, 3.4.
Beat the Quake, "hailing from the land of quakes, California, which has suffered through quite Fortunately, the UW & # 39; s Seismology Lab has far more emergency preparedness information & quot; so we do not have to begin from ground zero & quot; We have 135 seismic stations throughout Washington and Oregon, currently operating, and we & # 39; re really expanding. We really cover a tremendously broad area . "
They locate quakes precisely, then determine the magnitude (quantity of total energy released by the quake), location (area affected by the quake), and epicenter (location on the surface directly above the focus, or place where an earthquake originates.
"It 's also important to understand that this is an educational center for graduate students in geophysics." They also educate citizens. School groups bring in students, and Steele speaks at civic organizations, encouraging people to take action and make themselves safer from earthquakes.
Of course, the big question everyone asks is, "When?
"We & # 39; re not able to put down a date. It & # 39; s more complicated because three types of quakes occur in the Puget Sound region.The most common are deep earthquakes.
"Events from everywhere show up on their heliccorder sheets, making an analog, a 24-hour record, of every quake. For example, the Klamath Falls quakes, which are very near California on the Oregon coast.
"We cover the Cascade Range, and have multiple stations on every volcano." We have a good station at Mt. Baker, adequate to cover the region. "Earthquakes around volcanoes are very common.
The lab shares data with California for quakes occurring on the border of California and Oregon. "We & # 39; re part of the Washington Regional Seismic Network." Steele showed me a map of Pacific Northwest Seismicity, 1969-1991. There were huge blue "clerrer, clusters in Puget Sound." What are those, I asked. "Moderate, shallow, and deep quakes. The deep clusters are in the Puget Basin.
The values usually range from 1.0 (not felt) to 7.0 (extreme damage to buildings and land surfaces) They can go even higher, as they have in recent deep quakes in Alaska.
There & # 39; s happening in Puget Sound: about 300 kilometers or more from the coast is where the deep quakes are generated. There ruge 500 to 700 kilometers out called the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and new material, new sea floor, is being deposited. It pushes the Juan de Fuca plate towards the North American plate underneath the Seattle area. The Juan de Fuca plate moves an average of two inches a year, towards us , lifting the other plate.
This boundary is called the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and extends from the two plates that stops the oceanic plate, making it subduct beneath us, forcing the ocean plate down into the mantle of the Earth. middle of Vancouver Island in British Columbia down to Northern California.
The Earth & # 39; s mantle lies beneeth its brittle crust. It 's semi - solid, due to tremendous heat and pressure. "Our Cascade volcanoes are probably there due of plateduction benefit us. The push deforms the crisis and builds up It's # # bulging up. "The oceanic plate is" cold rock "and the shock of the two forces meeting leads to deep earthquakes. Washington has recently experienced two large ones , in 1949 and 1965.
A flyer from the lab states that roughly 1,000 earthquakes per year are recorded in Washington and Oregon. "Between one and two dozen of these cause enough ground shaking to be felt by residents. Most are in the Puget Sound region, and few cause any real "Steele thinks it it 's not easy to weak in the area, we have certainly that damaging earthquakes (magnitude 6.0 or greater) will recur in our area, even we have no way to predict will be soon.
"In 1949, there was a severe earthquake in Olympia, 7.1 Eight people were killed and there was millions of dollars worth of property damage.
"In 1965, there was a magnitude 6.5 quake between Seattle and Tacoma." Both earthquakes were felt as far away as Montana. But then were no aftershocks, as is usual during a deep quake. The infamous aftershocks, known to catch people in the "The 1965 quake killed about five people, and again there was millions of dollars of property "Every 35 years or so a 6.0+ magnitude quake occurs beneath Puget Basin. it finally builds up sufficient pressure to kick up , it & # 39; ll be a big one. "
In 1964, one year before this area last big event, south-central Alaska generated a monster 9.3 quake, shaking the ground for twenty minutes, generating tidal waves That decimated Seward 's coast, affected 34,000 square miles, and killed 143 people. And there ' s been great large quakes in Cape Mendecino, California , and Parkfield, California, infamous for ground shaking, in 1992.
He 's found a kind of layered soil ... "what he found ... ghost forests "A layer gradually turned into forest floor and then the sand layer." As bulging continues, coastline increases, and low-lying areas are flushed clean by salt water. It's # 39 # s drops. & # 39; if you 're relying at five feet above sea level, it' s not a very comfortable thing . "
The greatest ones, generated by larger quakes, can rip up an entire coastline for miles, wiping out bridges, roads, and buildings. The really great subduction zone quakes, 9.0 or more, only occurs "One recent California quake was only seventeen" on one a century on the face of the planet. Strangely, a big quake may result in only about three-and-a-half minutes worth of strong ground shaking, which does not sound like much. a 7.1 quake releases the equivalent of 199,000 tons of TNT in energy; a 9.0 releases 200 million tons, or 17,000 atomic bombs.
"The difference between 8 and a 9 is greater than the difference between a 2 and an 8, because of the logarithmic scale. I surprised if it ever goes up to 10.0.
By carbon - 14 dating organic matter in ground and sea levels, "scientists can determine approximate dates for events going back 10,000 years." Finding clues about these earthquakes involves both painstaking research and educated guesswork.
Life block landslides occurred in forests. Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island rose twenty feet from Puget Sound in seconds during that event. "
Buildup from glacial ice sheets after covering the contributor make it difficult to analyze failure crust faults. But geologists are pretty sure there are two major seattle faults. The largest one runs from the north tip of Mercer Island through Eastgate to the Kingdome, just north of In 1872, an estimated 7.3 shallow quake caused seismologists call "felt reports" from observers, the only evidence of some older quakes. Native Americans tell legends about what must have been some very sizeable earthquakes and tsunamis.
Nowadays, all the real-time telemetry comes through in the back of the lab, where Steele poured me a cup of Starbucks coffee at their metal sink in a very equipment-crowded "We focus on volcanoes. All stations, including the ones on helicorders, go onto the computer system in the space." Relays & # 39; zap & # 39; Activity energy in nanoseconds to the lab. next room. the front room, changing into digital information the computer can read.
"If it picks up a & # 39; jump & # 39; sa signal or not. Magnitude etc. (a skip in the needle on the helicorder) on a station, it checks other stations and records all data, "Steele may hear a" beep "anytime." Steele may hear a "beep" anytime.
As I drank my coffee, Steele told me he was a grad student, his life & # 39; s partner works, and together they support their family, renting a house in Wallingford and raising two kids. "It 's rewarding job, but ... the rewards are not monetary. "Nonetheless, he feels grateful as a college by everyone, and has a good working relationship with all his" fellows at the lab. "
"Let 's get ready. Before we start spending some money?" Right now, there are "earth secret is not fear and loathing in adamant." no definite laws enforced earthquake building codes, "if the building code years ago said you could pile bricks without mortar on top of each other."
"The brick that falls three stories does not slow down," he said, referring to the death of a boy during the 1965 earthquake. Steele is certain such deaths are preventable.
"At least six schools in Oregon have unreinforced structures, bricks that can fall and fill a doorway, blocking the exit." Retrofit them, or tear them down and build another school. If a school has been considered unsafe for a quake laTely, they can sell it, and it becomes a senior center. check and see down if it acts on the ground, under something; you smell gas, and turn it off; electricity, too. "
You should get to know your community resources, Steele said. And in case of severe aftershocks, if you & # 39; re in a building "you should wait until the shaking stops, and then get out." Lots of people are killed by falling debris while evicting buildings.
As I write this, there are aftershocks east of the Dec. 4 "sequence" starting in Klamath Falls "The question is, are we going to recognize the danger and do something about it, or are we going to wait until we have an adequate death toll? I & # 39; d like to see a dedicated plan and some leadership from the state It & # 39; ll be a lot of money.
Steele said a college of him said it best: "The next great disaster will happen as soon as we forget about the last one."
What to do other than screaming your lungs out ... fall down!
Get more specifics from the American Red Cross, or FEMA.
Firing pieces of broken glass; flying pieces of broken glass; overturning bookcases; unanchored water heaters; storage facilities; fires from damaged gas lines; electric lines; wood stoves; chimneys; toxic fumes .
Create emergency preparedness plan: find safe spots in your home; plan two ways out of each room; show two places to meet, outside your house and outside the neighborhood if you can not return home; show everyone how to shut off water, gas and electricity; practice your plans, now.
Read "Your Family Disaster Plan," and "Emergency Preparedness Checklist," which you can get from from FEMA.
Strange earthquake hazards: evaluate your home; remember, stiff items snap; place heavy objects on lower shelves; anchor everything heavy; anchor hanging objects; support community earthquake preparedness.
Businesses, schools, daycares, neighborhoods, churches, clubs: hold workshops. Assemble a disaster preparedness kit: store food, water, clothes, a first aid kit, a radio, flashlights, and batteries, good for 72 hours of use, in your car trunk, home, and office. For more details, consult the FEMA brochure, "Your Family Disaster Supplies Kit."
You actually have about two seconds, so get ready for that earthquake now to protect yourself and others. Stay where Turn away from glass. Keep away from chimneys, windows, tall bookcases, and objects that might fall.
Listen to a radio or TV for instructions. Outdoors: move away from buildings, trees, and utility wires. Sit on the ground Check in injuries. Do not move seriously injured people unless they 're in danger. Indoors: evident damaged buildings, as aftershocks could cause additional damage, or buildings can collapse.
Check out fiers. Have a fire extinguisher, and know how to use it. Check If you smell gas, open windows, leave, and shut off the main, you can smell gas, electric, and water lines may be broken. Gas: do not use matches, candles, open flames or electric switches indoors, gas valve, which is normally outside.
Water: if water pipes are broken, shut off the supply at the main valve. Use water from ice cubes, water Provide adequate ventilation, as chemicals may combine to produce toxic gas. Remember to assist others in need.
Finally, please remember to keep on the "stats" related earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters in your area, so you have a pretty good idea what to do - in the likely event you will have to suffer through one. And also remember : it & # 39; s not your fault. (Sorry about that, I could not resist the joke.)
