Scientists think it’s better if it happens sooner rather than later, but an apocalyptic tsunami is expected to hit the US soon.
According to a recent study, there is a 37 percent risk that a massive earthquake will occur at any time during the next 50 years in the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) in the Pacific Northwest of the United States by the year 2100.The Juan de Fuca Plate, one tectonic plate, slides beneath the North American Plate via the CSZ, a fault line off the west coast of North America that is almost 700 miles long.It runs along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to the southern portion of the US West Coast.
Scientists warn that a 100-foot super tsunami would destroy most of the West Coast if an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 to 9.0 were to occur today. This is because the coastline would drop by about eight feet in an instant.According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a CSZ earthquake alone would kill 5,800 people, and the massive wave it would cause would kill an additional 8,000.
The global team, headed by Virginia Tech academics, also noted that increasing sea levels will only make these ominous forecasts worse over time.Professor Tina Dura, the lead author of the study, said, “This is going to be a very catastrophic event for the US, for sure. The tsunami is going to come in, and it’s going to be devastating.”
Sea levels are expected to rise by up to two feet by 2100 due to climate change. The destruction and floods in the Cascadia Subduction Zone will probably be worse than anticipated in 2025 if another massive earthquake doesn’t occur before then.
According to FEMA’s 2022 emergency report, the next significant CSZ earthquake would cause over 618,000 buildings to be damaged or destroyed and over 100,000 people to be injured.