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Michael Loehr, chief of emergency preparedness and response for Washington State, told Pharmacy Times that local and state emergency managers have led efforts to educate the public, business community, government agencies, and elected leaders about the Cascadia subduction zone rupture. Here’s how pharmacists located in states on the West Coast can help prepare themselves and their patients for this natural disaster, starting with Washington State. The agency is currently planning a 4-day exercise in June to coordinate governmental agencies with the private sector on responses to this emergency situation.Īwareness and preparation are crucial for those residing in the Pacific Northwest. If the earthquake and tsunami had hit on February 6, 2016, at 9:41 AM, around 13,000 individuals would have died and 27,000 would be injured, FEMA told The New Yorker. The last major earthquake and tsunami occurred in 1700.
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On its website, FEMA describes the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and tsunami situation as “one of the most complex disaster scenarios that emergency management and public safety officials face in the Pacific Northwest.”Įvery 200 to 500 years, on average, an 8- to 9-magnitude earthquake occurs along the 800-mile territory, according to FEMA. Murphy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regional administrator for Region X, who stated, “Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.” One of the most-cited quotes from The New Yorker article on the Cascadia subduction zone came from Kenneth D. When the full-margin rupture occurs, the Pacific Northwest will experience not only a massive earthquake, but also a tsunami roughly 15 minutes later. The odds of the next full-margin rupture (between an 8.7- and 9.2-magnitude earthquake) occurring in the next half-century are about 1 in 10. Pharmacists should be aware of this fault line because there is a 1 in 3 chance that a big earthquake with a magnitude of 8 to 8.6 will occur in the Pacific Northwest within the next 50 years, The New Yorker reported. The Cascadia fault line-which may be lesser known than the San Andreas Fault, but has the potential to produce more damage-runs from the area around Cape Mendocino, California, through Oregon and Washington, and ends near Vancouver Island, Canada. “When, not if” is a repeated phrase experts use when they refer to the Cascadia subduction zone rupture, which will create North America’s worst natural disaster in recent history.