11/9/2023 0 Comments Tsunami survival story![]() ![]() ![]() Just when I thought it was safe to get back in the water. That means I'm testing a tsunami escape pod in what's effectively earthquake ground zero, exactly when a massive earthquake is due to arrive. "And it's been 300 years since the last one." "Earthquakes happen in Cascadia every 300 years, plus or minus 100 years," Ward says. And it's this area that's capable of producing magnitude 9 earthquakes - on par with the highest magnitude earthquakes ever recorded. This 620-mile long boundary line in the earth's crust (which also includes the Gorda and Explorer tectonic plates shoving their way into the mix) is known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Here, the Juan de Fuca plate has been slowly, quietly grinding underneath the North America Plate for roughly 200 million years, storing up energy which periodically gets released in the form of earthquakes. Animation by Steven Wardīut roughly 150 miles west of where I am now, deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, two tectonic plates are at war. This computer simulation, created by Steven Ward, shows the size of a tsunami (in meters) that could be caused by a Magnitude 9 earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone off of the northwest coast of North America. And that's why he built the Survival Capsule. What if it's the middle of the night? What if the streets outside are completely destroyed?Īccording to Julian Sharpe, "horizontally or vertically evacuating" in those cases - that is, running inland or climbing to a safe point out of the waves - isn't always an option. But now you have to gather your loved ones and evacuate. You've survived your entire house shaking on its foundations and you're miraculously unhurt. You've just experienced a magnitude 7 or 8 earthquake. That might sound like enough time to run to safety, but imagine the scenario. They say, 'If it's long and strong, be gone.' So if starts shaking, the minute it stops you've got about 10 minutes to follow the signs and get uphill." "But they also have what they call a 'self warning'. "Those people are not going to get any official warning because it's too fast," he says. According to Ward, for people living in places like Japan or the Pacific Northwest, a tsunami can arrive in 10 minutes or less. These earthquakes can cause massive devastation, and the tsunamis they can spawn come incredibly quickly. And the giant lets go and it all slides back out again." " lifts the seafloor up and holds it there, and all the water slides in for 10 or 15 minutes. "Imagine a giant out in the ocean," says Ward. ![]()
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