After an April 6, 2009, earthquake that killed 300 people in the Italian city of L’Aquila, seven scientists and engineers were convicted of manslaughter for their failure to properly warn residents. When? We’re better at predicting terrorist attacks than earthquakes, but don’t try telling that to the Italians. It will also depend in part on the preparations of business and government. But none of us are in this alone, and the general state of affairs after a major earthquake will depend on more than just your household emergency kit.

Next you ask yourself if you’re prepared. First you pray that you-and your family and friends-will be the lucky ones. One morning as you’re crossing the Alex Fraser Bridge or inching through the George Massey Tunnel, thinking about time and traffic and lunch options when suddenly the pavement shrugs and the earth begins its awful dance while stolid structures begin undulating like studies in a surrealist’s sketchbook. But as with any inevitability, there’s money to be made before and after the Cascadia fault changes our lives forever Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians will leave and never return. Almost half of small businesses will fail. Whether it’s the magnitude-9 Big One that strikes first, or smaller-but equally deadly-temblors, recovery will take years, not weeks. The human and economic devastation of the coming West Coast earthquakes is unimaginable. In light of recent massive quakes in Haiti, Chile, and Mexico, Cascadia’s Fault not only tells the story of this potentially devastating earthquake and the tsunamis it will spawn, it also warns us about an impending crisis almost unprecedented in modern history.Pacific Northwest Earthquake | BCBusiness

Slamming into Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver, it will send tidal waves to the shores of Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, damaging the economies of the Pacific Rim countries and their trading partners for years to come. It will generate the same earthquake we saw in Sumatra, at magnitude nine or higher, sending crippling shockwaves across a far wider area than any California quake. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is virtually identical to the offshore fault that wrecked Sumatra in 2004. It could happen 200 years from now, or it could be tonight. And the monster is due to return at any time. This fault generates a monster earthquake about every 500 years. The Cascadia Subduction Zone has generated massive earthquakes over and over again throughout geologic time-at least thirty-six major events in the last 10,000 years. A thrillingly rendered, yet ＂level-headed＂ look at the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the devastating natural disasters it promises ( Booklist) There is a crack in the earth’s crust that runs roughly 31 miles offshore, approximately 683 miles from Northern California up through Vancouver Island off the coast of British Columbia.

Cascadia's Fault by Jerry Thompson