Oregon Coast Emergency Management agencies are urging citizens and businesses to register and participate in the 2018 Great Oregon ShakeOut. While the potential earthquake hazard depends upon your location, you could be anywhere when an earthquake strikes- at home, at work, at school or even on vacation. What we do now will determine our quality of life after an earthquake occurs. There are two more opportunities to learn about our local earthquake risks by attending the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The Great Oregon ShakeOut is an annual opportunity to practice “Drop, Cover and Hold On” for sixty seconds. The ShakeOut has also been organized to encourage you, your community, your school, or your organization to review and update emergency preparedness plans and supplies, and to secure your space in order to prevent damage and injuries. Registration totals from Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills across the U.S. are also included in America’s PrepareAthon! participation totals. The Great Oregon ShakeOut website has several tools and information sheets for your community group, family or business that you can use to create a drill or take preparedness steps. To register or learn more go to www.shakeout.org/oregon If you are new to our coastal communities or unfamiliar with our earthquake hazards then you need to know that Oregon lies at a convergent continental boundary where two tectonic plates are colliding. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is actually a 600 mile long earthquake fault stretching from offshore northern California to southern British Columbia. This fault builds up stress for hundreds of years as the Juan de Fuca and North America Plates push against each other. Eventually, the two plates rip apart, creating some of the largest earthquakes and tsunamis on earth. Where the Juan de Fuca oceanic plate and the North American continental plate meet is called a subduction zone, because the denser Juan de Fuca Plate is being pulled under North America. The Juan de Fuca Plate is moving to the northeast at about an inch a year as the North American Plate moves west. The Oregon coastline is actually bulging upward from the two plates pushing against each other. There are over 1000 earthquakes over magnitude 1.0 in Washington and Oregon every year, with at least two dozen being large enough to be felt. Approximately 17 people have lost their lives due to earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest. Since 1872, there have been 20 damaging earthquakes in Washington and Oregon. The Pacific coast poses special risk from tsunamis associated with a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. In addition to subduction zone earthquakes, Oregon is also susceptible to crustal earthquakes. The two largest earthquakes in recent years in Oregon, Scotts Mills, (magnitude 5.6) and the Klamath Falls, main shocks (magnitude 5.9 and magnitude 6.0) of 1993 were crustal earthquakes. The following are helpful links to earthquake and tsunami information that may benefit you or someone you know. Great Oregon Shakeout – Register & information: http://shakeout.org/oregon/ • Recommended Earthquake Safety Actions; • Earthquake Guide for People with Disabilities.
