Being Prepared on The West Coast For Disaster (Cascadia Fault)

[crofoot629]

I really worry about the community I live in, and the larger area of the West Coast being prepared for natural disasters.

Where I live in Ashland Oregon we are used to very benign weather.
I think a lot of Washington, Oregon, and California are too.

We get some localized flooding, but because of the terrain it runs off fairly quickly. Nothing like the Mid West gets.

Any number of events should be motivation to have enough supplies to get by for a few days with no help from the government.

However The Cascadia Fault could potentially kill thousands and sever utilities, food deliveries, gasoline and natural gas pipe lines.

Seattle faces it's own problems with an active volcano in its backyard.

My motivation for this post is to help people be prepared. No matter where you are, but I think those of us in Oregon consider ourselves out of harms way when we in fact are at great risk.

COSTCO and Emergency Essentials are your friend.
Here are just a few suggestions, but a little Google foo will take you a long ways.

http://www.costco.com/330-Total-Ser...Supply-By-Chefs-Banquet.product.11649759.html

300 Total Servings Freeze-Dried Fruit Variety Emergency Food Bucket By Chef's Banquet

http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_WS B701_A_name_E_55 Gallon Water Barrel Combo

Katadyn Vario Dual-Technology Water Filter

21ST CENTURY FOOD STORAGE - Water Storage

http://discovermagazine.com/20...te-pacific-northwest

If my house is left standing I'm good for at least 30 days.

If you have not read up on the Cascadia Fault and live in Washinton, Oregon, or California, please do.


A couple of 5 gallon buckets of long shelf life beans and rice from Costco will go a long ways. See what else they have. They deliver to your door at no extra charge, and have things that can't be bought off the shelf at my local Costco.

Of course canned food you already have in your kitchen should be stocked up on.

Don't forget an extra bag of dog/critter food in the rotation if you own pets.

Cash. At least $500 in small bills if the electricity being out, keeps you from accessing your funds electronically.

A BBQ with side burner. I keep three (5) gallon tanks in the rotation for cooking, and heating water. One 5 gallon tank is already hooked to a hose that connects to my Colman propane stove. I also have a white gas stove, but only two gallons of fuel. That still gives me 3 sources of heating for cooking. A 5 gallon propane bottle powering a BBQ side burner lasts approximately eleventy million years.

A couple of large tarps if a tree falls on the house.

I have a generator, but only about 20 hours of fuel.

I however have a lot of firewood.

We have a lot of outdoor gear, like warm sleeping bags already from our outdoor life style.

Water is a biggie, and a tough one. It's heavy and takes up a lot of room. And the containers (drums) are expensive. I only have (2) 55 gallon drums and some bottled water. You should plan on 1 gallon per person per day.

Lots of toilet paper.

Extra medications.

There is of course a vast amount of information a few key strokes away on the internet to educate yourself on the Cascadia Fault. I just randomly choose one article as a primer.

This is a real disaster, and it's going to happen. Very likely in many of our lifetimes. It's just around the corner. I know I sound like a broken record, but the people in my community just don't know about it, or get it. It scares me.

For a few hundred dollars most people could prepare themselves to a high degree. Of course all the possible circumstances are impossible to foresee, but please store some water and "rice and beans".


Be prepared to shelter in place.
If there are thousands of people killed, and the roadway infrastructure fails, as almost certainly will happen, no ones coming to help you for days or weeks.

Emory

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Honest Men Fear Neither The Light Nor The Dark

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

A lot of folks are taking an amateur radio class and getting a hand held radio for emergency communication. My mother (in her 70s) just got her license this year. She was encouraged by her church. Apparently, there's quite an increase in people getting involved across the nation. I took a class this year and there were over 50 people! The instructor said he's never seen so many people getting their amateur radio license.

 

[ChuckS1]

I'd be more worried about Mt Shasta, Mt Jefferson and Three Sisters (well, throw in Mt Hood and Mt Rainer, I guess) becoming active volcanoes before I worried abut earthquakes. I grew up outside of Salem (Stayton) and my high school science teacher back in the early 70's used to scare the heck out of us with stories of volcanic eruptions in the Cascades.

 

[crofoot629]

A lot of folks are taking an amateur radio class and getting a hand held radio for emergency communication. My mother (in her 70s) just got her license this year. She was encouraged by her church. Apparently, there's quite an increase in people getting involved across the nation. I took a class this year and there were over 50 people! The instructor said he's never seen so many people getting their amateur radio license.

What's the reasoning behind hand held radios?
With The Cascadia Fault scenario I'm warning against, who are you going to call?

The 100 foot tsunami that has killed thousands, and the 9.9 earth quake that has dropped bridges on I-5 from Canada to California, will certainly make people aware there is a problem.

My point is the vast majority of people who live in Oregon don't live close enough to the ocean to be swept away by the tsunami's, but still live West of the Cascade Mountain Range, and will be cut off from all services and amenities.

Roads and bridges destroyed, no utilities including water, natural gas, and electricity, no gasoline, and no resupply of anything we typically go to the store to buy for days or weeks to come.

Katrina and Sandy will look like a walk in the park.

Emory

HONEST MEN FEAR NEITHER THE LIGHT NOR THE DARK

 

[crofoot629]

I'd be more worried about Mt Shasta, Mt Jefferson and Three Sisters (well, throw in Mt Hood and Mt Rainer, I guess) becoming active volcanoes before I worried abut earthquakes. I grew up outside of Salem (Stayton) and my high school science teacher back in the early 70's used to scare the heck out of us with stories of volcanic eruptions in the Cascades.

Volcanoes are generally a much more isolated event.
True it could suck to live in Seattle if Mt Rainier erupts.

The possibility of the Super Volcano that is Yellowstone National park erupting is statically extremely remote in our life time, compared to The Cascadia Fault letting go. It's really apples and oranges.

The single biggest, most likely, major natural disaster threat, to the West coast, comes from the Cascadia Fault. And no one seems to know of it?

Emory

 

[SoCal629]

Some of the simplist changes can cause havic in everyday routine..Some people dont realize just a power outage can create chaos.For example the power outage in southern California to Arizona last year created freeway standstills as traffic lights on off ramps were out and backed up the freeways to a stop as well as side streets..Thousands of cars out of gas on the roads or stranded on side streets not able to get home.People that were running out of gas and parked at service stations or on business parking lots were forced to keep moving by the police.Every business relies on electricity to sell items and stop selling regardless of credit or cash.Some city water pumps went out and those areas lost water and some cases water backflowed.All phones were out,cell and landlines.You couldn't buy anything anywhere.This was only a five to ten hour outage and these can be triggered by storms,energy surges,earthquakes,solar flares,etc.I was in hurricane alicia in 1983 in Houston and power was out for 10 days..If you dont have any money on hand you cant get any from banks either and credit cards are worthless without electricity..
I try to keep extra cash in my gun safe in small denominations,fuel on hand for generator as well as vehicles,about 30 gallons of tap water in jugs and 10 gallons filtered water.First aid kits,tarps and rope,excess food and rations,battery or wind up flashlights and radio.Maybe decide among your family members where you are to meet in the event you cant get back to your home and phones are out. Just some thoughts and ideas to share..

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

What's the reasoning behind hand held radios?
With The Cascadia Fault scenario I'm warning against, who are you going to call?

When normal communications are down, there is no one else to call except those with radios. Her local church, LDS, has a pretty good local communications network. They know the frequencies to use, who to check on, report in, listen for information and that kinda basic stuff. She lives in the Bay Area and the San Andreas fault could create quite a disaster. It's all part of larger disaster relief operations which the LDS church is pretty sophisticated.

 

[cowart]

What's the reasoning behind hand held radios?
With The Cascadia Fault scenario I'm warning against, who are you going to call?

Search & rescue, emergency services, Red Cross, etc. Outside your local area if needed. See

2-meter band - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[crofoot629]

I'll bet the LDS is great about taking care of their own and radios would be of help.

As far as calling The Red Cross or Search and Rescue, I don't think that would be of any use. The Cascadia Fault kicking off with a 9.9 quake is going to be so devasting that you're going to be on your own for an extended period of time.

That's the point of my OP. just trying to give you good folks a heads up and some simple ideas to stay safe.

Best Regards,
Emory

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I live on the Oregon Coast & don't sweat it. If it comes, it comes. The whole coast of Oregon was once inland, now it's sea shore. A shelf plate shifted long ago & swept a lot of inhabitants out to sea. Guess that would be a catastrophy now but long ago it wasn't. FEMA won't be of much help I would think. I'll keep my life raft beside the bed in case.

 

[EQGuy]

Crofoot


I worked for the USGS from 1972 to 2010 installing and maintaining earthquake recorders. I also chased a few quakes by coming in after the event and removing film from remote recorders. I have been up and down I-5 many times on the job. We did a lot of contract work for ODOT by installing EQ recorders on many of their bridges. The last big event on the Cascadia Fault was in 1700 and caused I believe around 20 feet of uplift. The date is known because the Tusnami it generated was documented when it hit Japan. I think the recurrence interval is around 300 years. Another thing is to make sure your hot water heater is attached securely to the wall it is next to. That way you will have another emergency supply of water. If you live near the coast be ready to head for the hills when the big one occurs.

 

[jkc]

How refreshing --- doomsday survival suggestions without a bunch of macho chest thumping about suitable guns and quantities of ammo. However, in most locales, murderous chaos will quickly ensue, and even the most prepared and best equipped will probably quickly succumb to overwhelming hordes of "have-nots". We may even see this in New Jersey in the next few days, if FEMA doesn't perform better by several orders of magnitude than its last display of incompetence..

 

[Engineer1911]

I just got done casting bullets and loading appropriate calibers. Tomorrow is range day.

Don't forget to harvest the new crop of target holders on Tuesday night 2 minutes after the local poles close.

 

[breakingbad]

water is not a problem if you plan ahead.

you need to install a heated swimming pool like i did ... ohhh, about 32,000 gallons is about right ... and get a dechlorinator so you can drink it when the time comes.

I will look up cascadian fault, since you are so concerned, and see what's up.
BB

 

[LVSteve]

I always find these threads very interesting as a barometer of human behaviour. Last time I checked there were no guarantees that life is without risk, so consider the following.

If you live in a flood plain, you run the risk of being drowned; if you live under a volcano you may be incinerated in a pyroclastic flow; if you live on a tropical coast, you can be wiped out by a hurricane or eaten by the local sharks. However, statistically you are far more likely to die in a car accident or by taking a bad step off a curb. I think that most folk have an inbuilt understanding of this and it results in their general reluctance to prepare for such disasters.

Speaking of bald statistics, many of these disasters have struck while men have walked the Earth and in terms of the percentage of the whole population, about the same numbers will be wiped out each time. I'm sorry if that comes over cold, but many facts are that cruel and simple.

 

[Roadtrash]

As for the ham radio thing, it can be used to let loved ones around the country know that you are alive and well. Sure the Red Cross and other emergency responders will be covered up but if you can't contact them they will never come looking for you.

I've been a ham radio operator for many years, although not very active lately. It's good to know if something like this happens I do have a way to contact the "outside world". Depending on the set up you have you can talk locally or around the world.

 

[crofoot629]

I always find these threads very interesting as a barometer of human behaviour. Last time I checked there were no guarantees that life is without risk, so consider the following.

If you live in a flood plain, you run the risk of being drowned; if you live under a volcano you may be incinerated in a pyroclastic flow; if you live on a tropical coast, you can be wiped out by a hurricane or eaten by the local sharks. However, statistically you are far more likely to die in a car accident or by taking a bad step off a curb. I think that most folk have an inbuilt understanding of this and it results in their general reluctance to prepare for such disasters.

Speaking of bald statistics, many of these disasters have struck while men have walked the Earth and in terms of the percentage of the whole population, about the same numbers will be wiped out each time. I'm sorry if that comes over cold, but many facts are that cruel and simple.

LVSteve.
You lose me at so many levels.
Life does come with risk. That's why we often do things to minimize those risks.

Statistically? We are more likely to die in a car crash, so we shouldn't store food and water for a known predictable natural disaster? 2+2= negative 11?

Why do you keep or carry firearms for self defense knowing that you are statically more likely to be killed in a car crash.

Bald Statistics? Many thousand will be killed? Quite possible. My post addressed those of us who were not killed, and can make some simple and cheap preparations to prepare for the relatively short term there will be chaos and lack of services. In this case 30 days would be reasonable.

And lastly, do you even know what the Cascadia Fault is?

Out of all the responses in this thread, only one person seemed to be aware of the Fault.

And as Jeff Cooper said, "Statistics are of cold comfort when you find yourself the exception to the rule".

Emory

 

[crofoot629]

I live on the Oregon Coast & don't sweat it. If it comes, it comes. The whole coast of Oregon was once inland, now it's sea shore. A shelf plate shifted long ago & swept a lot of inhabitants out to sea. Guess that would be a catastrophy now but long ago it wasn't. FEMA won't be of much help I would think. I'll keep my life raft beside the bed in case.

It's not "if it comes". But when it comes.

Emory

 

[LVSteve]

LVSteve.

Statistically? We are more likely to die in a car crash, so we shouldn't store food and water for a known predictable natural disaster? 2+2= negative 11?

Why do you keep or carry firearms for self defense knowing that you are statically more likely to be killed in a car crash.

Bald Statistics? Many thousand will be killed? Quite possible. My post addressed those of us who were not killed, and can make some simple and cheap preparations to prepare for the relatively short term there will be chaos and lack of services. In this case 30 days would be reasonable.

And lastly, do you even know what the Cascadia Fault is?

Out of all the responses in this thread, only one person seemed to be aware of the Fault.

And as Jeff Cooper said, "Statistics are of cold comfort when you find yourself the exception to the rule".

Emory

Yes, I have read articles and seen TV shows about the Cascadia Fault. I am in no doubt that consequences when it lets go are going to be nasty. The main reason for that is the lack of warning. Earthquakes don't roll in over several days and allow you to view their progress by satellite.

I should reread what I wrote last night but it was not my intention to say that folk should not prepare but more a comment on why people fail to do so.

I have chosen to own firearms and I am prepared (I hope!) for that 1 in a billion home invasion. I know plenty of people who do not and have actually said to my face "I stand more chance of getting killed driving to work". The point I was trying to make is that folk DO make these decisions NOT prepare, sometimes consciously and maybe at a more subliminal level. Whether that is called denial I'll let those with psych degrees discuss.

Should people prepare for a Cascadia event? I would say yes, because it would probably dislocate the supply chain for basics of life to a greater degree than even a hurricane.

Do most folk have the knowledge, intelligence, money or even storage space to do so? Not so much. Such is our modern mostly urbanised "just in time delivery" style of life. Frighteningly vulnerable, isn't it?

 

[TAROMAN]

Here in the Great Northwet, the Cascadia is always looming.
As a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) member, we train for this eventuality.
Our director recently drafted this news story:

Death toll up, gasoline lines grow in monster earthquake and tsunami's wake

Portland, Oregon (Oregonian) - Portlanders awoke to the rumble of mass transit buses for the first time in four days on Thursday and the death toll continued to rise from the Cascadia Quake Thursday, the biggest and most devastating earthquake ever to hit the United States.

Lines formed at gas stations amid fuel shortages around the U.S. Northwest and emergency utility crews struggled to reach the worst hit areas and restore power to millions of people.

At least 8082 people in the Pacific Northwest died in the earthquake and resulting tsunami, which ravaged the northwestern United States on Monday night, and officials said the count would climb higher as rescuers searched house-to-house through coastal, low lying inlet towns and the Pacific Northwest corridor.

More deaths were recorded overnight as the extent of destruction became clearer on the Oregon and Washington coastlines, where the Tsunami lifted whole houses off their foundations for miles inland.

Authorities recovered 45 bodies from Puget Sound islands. Among those still missing were two boys aged 4 and 2 who were swept from their mother's arms by the flood waters, the Seattle Times reported. In all, 124 people are known to have died in this coastal area to date.

In hard-hit Astoria, Oregon, where Columbia riverside towns saw entire neighborhoods swallowed by seawater and the Astoria Bay boardwalk was destroyed, the death toll doubled to 152.

About 10.7 million homes and businesses in 8 U.S. states were without power on Thursday, down from a high of nearly 11.5 million, which surpassed the record 10.5 million customers who went dark from last year's Hurricane Sandy.

In Seattle, limited service returned on some train and bus lines, but more than half of the gas stations in the city and neighboring Tacoma remained shut due to power outages and depleted fuel supplies. Even before dawn, long lines formed at gas stations that were expected to open.

Fuel supplies into Oregon and Washington were being choked off as two fuel holding depots that hold up to two-thirds of the region's storage capacity were still idle due to power outages, structural instability or flooding.

FAA Official remain unable to give an estimate of when the Seattle-Tacoma, Portland or Eugene airports would be able to resume even limited functions.

FEMA administrators viewing the area by helicopter said you could take a picture of the devastation and say it was the Middle East "and no one would doubt you at all."