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What Will Happen When Cascadia Subduction Zone Slips
Noryungi writes: The New Yorker has published a chilling account of what would happen in the case of a major earthquake (roughly magnitude 9.0) inevitably striking the Cascadia subduction. "Under pressure from Juan de Fuca, the stuck edge of North America is bulging upward and compressing eastward, at the rate of, respectively, three to four millimetres and thirty to forty millimetres a year. It can do so for quite some time, because, as continent stuff goes, it is young, made of rock that is still relatively elastic. (Rocks, like us, get stiffer as they age.) But it cannot do so indefinitely." Most of the west coast of the U.S. and Canada is at risk, from Vancouver all the way down to Los Angeles and beyond. Most of the states and cities within this region are woefully under-prepared for a large earthquake. Scientists peg the odds at 1-in-3 for a quake within the next 50 years, and 1-in-10 for a really powerful one.
Geology is a Commie Pinko pseudo-science. God-fearing Kochites know that scientists are evil monsters who must be destroyed!!!! Vote GOP and get a government that knows what to do with scientists.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
That's really nice of you to wish death and destruction on millions of people because you see them as "arrogant".
than Juan will be fuca'd
Are rocks stiff in the morning, too?
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Are you sure that a disaster on the coastal infrastructure will have negligible effect on the non-coastal regions of the country? Last I checked our ports are on the coast and our ports are where most of our clothing [1], and non-negligible amount of food [2] come from.
[1] http://abcnews.go.com/Business...
[2] http://www.ers.usda.gov/datafi...
... the quake will show how stunningly unprepared that region will be for the ensuing catastrophe.
I was about to comment that I'm pretty sure there was a James Bond movie where this was part of the plot.
And then I went and started reading the linked article, and the whole article is talking about a guy called Goldfinger.
Why not take out of Oklahoma's or Texas's playbook and do some fracking near the fault line? It will likely cause earthquakes but hopefully they would be minor, and would relieve the pressure a little bit at a time, instead of all at once.
It figures. When something like a mild climate seems too perfect there is some catch like impending doom. At least it's not tornado alley, right? Stock up on water and nonperishables. If you live through it there will be no plumbing or power for a while.
Every so often I like to look over this list just so see what kinds of things can go wrong with the planet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
This one has always gotten my attention, I have heard about from multiple sources.
10 deadliest volcanic eruptions --1815 eruption of Mount Tambora-- 92,000 dead -- Year Without a Summer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
It just boggles my mind that there is a real potential for global disaster like this. I believe there is only a 40-90 day world wide food surplus available. I remember in the 1970s there were some discussions on the talking head shows about it. I think it was after Vietnam and the talking heads were scraping the barrel for things to get people excited about. A few economists said it was too big of a capital expenditure on something with a speculative return. But the possibility of an event is not 0... gives me something to ponder when I don't have anything else to worry about.
There's also a problem with liquefaction. Most of Victoria and Vancouver (in BC) are built on soft earth which will become mud and will stop supporting the stuff we've built. All those foundations, bridges, streets, they'll all become impassable. There's a liquefaction map I saw at an engineering presentation and the whole thing was red and black. Victoria is literally built on landfill garbage right next to the ocean. One of its landmark buildings, the Empress Hotel, was slowly sinking until it had a major refurb to drive piles down as far as they could reach.
Vancouver is the biggest port for exporting all of Canada's wheat, lumber, ore, etc. If it shuts down, people could be starving for work and food all over the world. It's not all bad though, because EA North would cease to exist. However, greater Vancouver is where most of BC's engineers live and work. We're your experts in fixing up after an earthquake, and most of us would probably be gone.
It's going to be bad when it hits. The upside is that most people here have earthquake kits, emergency supplies, ninja reflexes (we do earthquake drills) and have some idea that it will in fact happen.
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I can't wait until this happens. CNN will spin off a whole channel for nonstop coverage.
Los Angeles had a minor earthquake some years ago. I think it was like a 4.0 or so, a truck rumble at best. CNN kept running a black-and-white surveillance video of a grocery story where absolutely nothing moved in the background. Nothing falling, nothing breaking, nothing anything. But CNN made it sound like the BIG ONE already happened and California was sliding into the Pacific Ocean.
Who is this Juan de Fuca? How is he applying so much pressure on the United States? He must be stopped. It's not our fault, it's his.
I'm not worried about quakes, they are of course bad but the effects of them aren't long lasting. I'm more worried about when Yellowstone decides to erupt.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Seriously, we're all doomed here on the west-coast, run-away! sell your property, save yourselves! It's all just rain and drought here anyway - nothing to see here, move along. The midwest is where you you should go. All that nice safe open space. Leave us poor clueless left coasters to die. oh... and take all the telephone sanitizers with you.
"How dare you sir." I'm certain my President Bush would site the movie 2012 as a valid reference, and with biblical quotes to support his supporters.
They are saying there is a 1 in 3 chance that California will experience an earthquake sometime in the next 50 years? Doesn't California suffer Earthquakes on a regular basis? I thought maybe they were talking about major quakes, but the summary immediately goes on to talk about the odds of a major quake.
I read the internet for the articles.
Like no one noticed or cared when the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami hit or the 2001 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant hit. When the next Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake hits it will result in thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damage that will take years to recover from.
And don't worry about anthropogenic global warming, you'll be hearing about it for the rest of your life because it's not going away.
The net present value of annual payments of $531.36 over 58 years, at a discount rate of 3%, is $14,958.
Meaning if you set aside $15,000 today in an account earning 3%, you'd have enough money to make those 58 annual payments of $531.36. Per your scenario, the actual cost of the tax increase is about $15,000 per household (consisting of more than one taxpayer on average)
And if Dougherty's property tax millage rate is fully amortizing the bond, then those payments aren't for 58 years, but for the life of the bond, which is probably 30 years. In which case the NPV drops to $10,727 per household.
Not sure where you're getting $369,826 per taxpayer from.
Astounding as it may seem, but the Democrats are clearly positioning former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (that's right - Mayor) as their VP pick. http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/04/...
Of course, that's not as astounding as the fact that the Democrats are hell-bent on nominating Hillary, in the first place.
1. Keep a container of water and a whistle in each room. You can survive a month without food, but only 2-3 days without water.
2. There is not enough airlift to rescue even 1/20th of the injured. Only children in schools will be rescued. If you are in a Deep Bertha Tunnel, you will die there as the power goes out and the fans and pumps stop working.
3. Don't worry about Tsunami risk if you live in the Puget Sound, south of Everett. Unless you live within a block of the ocean. If so, get on the roof.
4. Half of all buildings and bridges will collapse in anything over an 8.0. Nothing we can do about that. You're safer in buildings built since the 90s.
5. Don't you wish you had a solar panel now? That will keep working, even in cloud cover. Enough for a fridge and microwave.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Actually, neither is astounding, considering how shallow their bench is.
For those among us with a leftward ideology and a twitchy knee, set the ideology aside for a bit and think it through: How many Democrats are 1) nationally recognized, 2) have proven executive ability (e.g. as governor - senators/reps rarely get elected) 3) have enough of a following among their base to push through the primaries?
The Republicans have many of those - in waves, and it shows in the zillion-candidate cage-match they're going through now (though to be honest, only about 8-10 of them have any hope in Hell). Yes, they have some toxic folks among them (e.g. Trump), but they'll flame out long before the primaries are underway.
The DNC? Not so much. There's a couple of outliers (dude from Maryland for example), but they lack any real name recognition, or a political machine to promote their name. Sanders has the populist imagination (much like the Tea Party does with the GOP), and Hillary has the Clinton name, as well as the massive political machine to back her up. Everyone else is either way too old or way the hell too, well, toxic to get the independent voter's nod. I mean, really, who else has a chance there?
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Actually, neither is astounding, considering how shallow their bench is
Particularly to find a young face to put in ads. The average Dem in congress is something like 5 years older now than the average Republican. The GOP has clearly been shaken up in the past decade, with lots of new faces (and the shaking hasn't stopped - lots of conservative blogs now spend more time criticizing Republicans than Democrats).
Yes, they have some toxic folks among them (e.g. Trump), but they'll flame out long before the primaries are underway.
Trump is an "issue candidate", not a real contender. He's using the race to get a soapbox to stand on, a long tradition in American, and I think a good one. It's the only way to bring some points of view into the political discussion at all, and it's good to have these arguments about issues during the primaries..
Sanders has the populist imagination
I've come to like Sanders: much as I fine his politics vile, his quite upfront and honest about what he stands for. We need more of that in politics!
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.