Something New to Worry About

I lived twenty-plus years in Sonoma County California, Santa Rosa, to be exact. As an emigrant from Oregon, I eventually realized that a crack in the wall or a sticking — and later unsticking — door was the normal. Earthquakes occur literally every day; most are felt only by scientific seismic equipment. In my two decades I felt only several. The most severe woke me early one morning in 2014. That one did most of its damage to the town of Napa, about thirty-five miles away.

Santa Rosa lies just east of the San Andreas Fault line (magnitude 7.6 in 1906 and) and right on top of the Hayward/Rodgers Creek Fault system (magnitude 5.6 and 5.7 in 1969). San Andreas follows the west — SanFrancisco — side of San Francisco Bay; Hayward/Rodgers Creek the east — Oakland — side of the Bay.

When I repatriated back to Oregon (just before fire turned a third of Santa Rosa’s tax base to ash) I figured I was at least safe from earthquakes. Sure, the Northwest has one once in a while, but nothing serious like in California. Oh, and the occasional volcano.

Of course now we all know about the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the west coast from northern California to Vancouver Island. The last major slippage of those tectonic plates was three-hundred years ago, before civilization had staked out anything on the West Coast. The next Cascadia earthquake — happening anytime — will unleash the mother of all tsunamis, wiping out me if I’m still here and turning everything around me to toxic sludge.

It almost makes me want to go back to California. But a lot of good that would do. The latest word from scientists is that Cascadia disruption will likely trigger movement on the San Andreas Fault. We have a new label, “Mendocino Triple Junction,” where the fault lines intersect. The Pacific Coast is really one big earthquake/tsunami zone. Could be the jokesters were right: the whole West Coast will fall into the Pacific Ocean.

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