Jerry Thompson (5)Besprekingen

Well researched book, about a huge threat to the Pacific Northwest, how it was discovered and what will happen if it splits as history says it will.

Fascinating and accessible book that traces the scientific discoveries of the danger of the Cascadia fault and how to prepare for an eventual quake/tsunami. Really enjoyed it.

When we moved to Eugene in 2019, we had no idea about the Cascadia fault, despite the fact that we came here from Southern California and were well aware of the California faults and earthquakes (I especially remember the morning in 1971 when I woke up to the Sylmar quake.) We were at a neighborhood emergency response meeting the week after we moved here and one of the participants mentioned the Cascadia fault. That prompted me to get this book from the library.

It's pretty well-written by a Canadian journalist, and reads like an investigation in a criminal case. Instead of criminals, we have the Earth. It recounts the various methodologies involved over the course of the last 55 or so years used to unravel what this subduction is up to and what sort of past events have occurred because of it. It could use updating for the last 10 years, though.

When we were renting a house in Yachats for a few days last month, both the tsunami inundation map on the wall and the tsunami evacuation signs on 101 made us well aware of what could happen any day now.

Concise but accessible study of the great fault off America's Pacific Northwest coast, including comparisons to the great Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011. A fascinating read.

This book is a must-read for everyone living in the Pacific Northwest. The Cascidia subduction zone has the potential to produce an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or above. Couple with that will be a huge tsunami, on the order of the one that hit Japan in 2011. Anyone living or working within 125 miles of the coast should read this book and be familiar with the tsunami evacuation routes in your area. If you spend a lot of time on the beach, you should have that knowledge too. The area where I live was mentioned many times in this book and I find that disturbing, yet also encouraging. Much research has gone into learning about the faults that lie off the northwest coast. This knowledge can help us all plan for the coming event, whether it happens tomorrow or 30 years from now. It will happen. History proves that this fault zone can produce some mega-events.

This was one book that I literally could not put down. I spent most of an entire weekend reading it cover to cover. The detective work behind the scientific discoveries was fascinating. How the geologists determined the dates of past earthquakes and tsunamis using the avilable evidence in the earth, and even in written records from the 1700's, was absolutely fascinating. They have proved beyond a doubt that there is a potential for huge events on this coast. No one can predict when it will happen though.

My advice? Read this book. Then look up the tsunami inundation maps for your area online. They are there for all the coastal areas, even the small towns. Whenever you are near the coast, or playing at the beach, look around you and memorize the route you'd have to take to reach high ground. If the ground starts shaking, you are better prepared to retreat to high ground before the arrival of the tsunami, which could happen within minutes (or seconds, depending on the location of the epicenter) of the earthquake ending. All of us living on the coast are at risk and should be aware of how to take care of ourselves and our families in the event that the Cascadia Subduction Zone rips loose with a 9.0 earthquake followed by a mega-tsunami. You need to read this book!

About 10 years ago, a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Sumatra. A similar earthquake and tsunami will strike the west coast of North America. It's not a question of if, but when. The damage will be wrought along the Cascadia fault, and this book will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about it. You get a history of earthquake science and plate tectonics, with accounts of major earthquakes in the Cascadia region and the process by which scientists have been able to deduce the frequency and magnitude of these quakes. The book also discusses the difficulties and advances in the science of earthquake prediction; we're getting better at predicting tsunamis and approximately how often the earthquakes themselves will occur, but it's not at the same level as weather forecasting, being able to put a date and time to a quake. As scientists continue to learn about the geological processes responsible for earthquakes, prediction and modelling systems will get better. In the meantime, emergency preparedness is another important factor: even if you don't know when exactly a quake will occur, knowing where to go and what to do when one does happen will be useful.

This is a very informative book but is rather a lot to take in if you read it all at once. Good for an evening at home, with minimal distractions.½

You have to read this book. That's not a suggestion. That Simon Winchester wrote the introduction speaks volumes to me, as his A Crack in the Edge of the World placed the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake in its proper geological perspective. This is not only the history of a future event, but the history of its acceptance as a more than probable event within the life span of the youngest of us. Read this if you live on the West Coast!

It was an informative book, and it was very well written.

Coming on the heels of the Japan quake of March 2011, it strikes a great balance between sensationalism and science journalism. It is a sensational event, Cascidian Earthquake. It is also a great scientific detective story of how geophysicists came to recognize that it could happen.