Tsunami and destruction fears as threat of 'inevitable' earthquake looms over Washington

Washington is at a high risk of experiencing devastating earthquakes, with the potential for a tsunami, warns an expert.

Harold Tobin, Director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, has highlighted that following a series of  earthquakes in California last week, residents were urged to “remain alert” due to the possibility of larger tremors.

However, Tobin emphasises that it’s not just the Golden State that’s at risk. He told KIRO7: “Washington has, second only to California, the greatest risk from earthquakes in the country,” The state, including major cities like Seattle and Tacoma, is riddled with active faults and fault zones, making seismic events inevitable.

While these quakes may not be as powerful as those seen elsewhere in the US, Tobin warns they could still cause significant damage. “The earthquakes might be smaller, but the damage could be really much worse,” he said.

A substantial earthquake on these faults could lead to widespread destruction, potentially taking years to recover from and even resulting in fatalities. “One would expect the power to be down, natural gas lines to be broken, maybe water and sewer lines to be broken,” Tobin explained.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone, located off the coast, has the potential to trigger “the big one”, a catastrophic event that could result in severe shaking and a tsunami, warns Tobin. The last significant earthquake to hit Washington was the 6.8 magnitude Nisqually earthquake in 2001, reports The Mirror US.

Originating approximately 30 miles below Olympia in the subducting Juan de Fuca plate, it caused the ground in the Puget Sound area to shake for 30 to 40 seconds. The quake injured around 400 people and resulted in over £3.1 billion ($4 billion) in damages.

The Washington Military Department refers to the state as “earthquake country” and echoes Tobin’s warnings. “We live in a seismically-active region where several different types of earthquakes can, and have occurred,” the department stated in a post commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake.

They added: “In addition to the deep earthquakes that can occur in the subducting plate beneath Western Washington, our state is also crisscrossed with crustal faults close to the surface (such as the Seattle Fault, the Tacoma Fault, the Chelan Fault, the Lake Creek Fault, Saddle Mountain Fault and more), which could cause earthquakes and very intense shaking.

“Finally, off the coast of Washington is the Cascadia Subduction Zone – a 700-mile long fault capable of producing earthquakes up to Magnitude 9 and tsunamis that will impact the entire coast.”