BRACE FOR THE MEGATSUNAMI

The Pacific Northwest could be rocked by a mega earthquake any day now. A quake that will generate a devastating tsunami. But is America ready for 'the big one'?

- by HAYLEY BENNETT

For once, the city council meeting in Portland, Oregon, was full. So full that people had spilled out into an overflow room, where they were watching the meeting play out on a TV. “This is great,” thought Chris Goldfinger, when he arrived. “The community is really engaged.” It was 2018 and Goldfinger, a renowned earthquake expert and emeritus professor at Oregon State University, had come to give the locals the lowdown on the danger they were facing.

The danger, which they continue to face today, is an earthquake the likes of which Portland has never seen. An earthquake that’s brewing 200km (almost 125 miles) away, off the Pacific Northwest coast of America, and could bring with it a devastating tsunami.

Experts suggest that when this earthquake hits, it’ll bring Portland, Seattle and other cities near the coast to their knees, while smaller, low-lying coastal communities could end up underwater due to the ensuing tsunami and subsidence risk. Yet Portland’s residents weren’t particularly eager to hear what Goldfinger had to say. Most were angry about proposed policies that would mean them having to reinforce their buildings - at great personal cost - to withstand a once-in-a-lifetime earthquake that may not even happen in their lifetime.

“It turns out all 300 people who showed up were building owners,” says Goldfinger. “It’s a long and ridiculous story - almost like a comedy routine. But they won.” The result of their victory is that there remain at least 1,600 old brick buildings (‘brickies’) in Portland that are likely to collapse in the event of an earthquake, and no firm plans to stabilise them. This is, or can be, the frustrating reality of living with the looming spectre of a natural disaster.

INHERENT INSTABILITY