Warning the West Coast About the Next Big Earthquake

When it comes to earthquake preparedness, the U.S. is surprisingly behind the times. Despite the fact that nearly half of all Americans are susceptible to potentially damaging earthquakes, the country is ill-prepared to sustain a tremor of the magnitude that scientists have warned about. Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker recently reported that the odds of a disastrous earthquake occurring in the Pacific Northwest in the next 50 years are about one in three.

If such an earthquake were to strike, the Federal Emergency Management Agency predicts that nearly 13,000 lives would be at stake. The map below shows the potential hazard for regions around the country over this 50-year time span. Note the frightening swath of red along the West Coast, which corresponds to a nine or above on the Mercalli scale of earthquake intensity—an indicator of violent-to-extreme damage.