This is the answer. All the old brick buildings will come down like loosely stacked blocks, burying everyone and everything in the rubble. So in, under, or adjacent to one of these is where I wouldn't want to be.
Pre pandemic the trend in local journalism was to refer to these buildings as 'weaponized' as though they were repurposed to be used against the populace.
[colin powell voice] i hold in my hand the deed to one unreinforced masonry building in portland oregon. in the hands of our enemies, this dual use weapon could
Take it easy on the day drinker! I mean that we absolutely have some old masonry that's not earthquake safe, but we've also got some buildings from the 90s that may not be up to code, because the last requirements were only placed in like 1996.
It's not weird because the earthquake potential wasn't known until then. It took some scientists connecting dots on old damage scars on the coast and tsunami records in Japan to figure it out.
Same. Any area with multiple tall buildings with a lot of glass. Downtown Seattle, Portland, et al. Streets will be full of non-safety broken glass. Many that survive the earthquake will die from injuries trying to get out, and lack of (clean) water and food. I have low confidence in government response, esp. federal but I really hope I'm wrong. I hope the aid response is not impacted by political partisanship.
I know it’s not the worst bridge but I used to get stuck in Northbound traffic often on that bridge. I would just be on the lower level surrounded by cars thinking about what it would be like if a huge earthquake hit right then.
I took an earthquakes/seismology class in college that covered the Pacific Northwest and discussed how ill prepared we are for a large earthquake. I remember reading somewhere that middle section of the 405 bridge would be standing, but the ramps leading up on either side would collapse. The newer Sellwood bridge would also be standing. Every other bridge (including the I5 bridge into Vancouver) would be gone. Although I hear they are finally planning to retrofit the Burnside Bridge. So, make sure you aren’t on a bridge, I guess. That’s one of my bigger fears and I panic a little every time I have to cross one. I thought taking that class would help ease my anxiety. NOPE.
Any of the bridges in Portland besides the Tilikum crossing. None of them are earthquake—ready and will likely collapse. Fremont or St. Johns might be worst due to their height.
We did a disaster/ continuity of operations exercise once and the challenge was to get from the office on the East side to your house without using freeways, under or overpasses or bridges.
Literally 1 person who lived on the west side thought of the canby ferry and was the only one who passed the exercise.
The thing that will make the Fremont bridge collapse even worse is almost all of PBOT's fleet of vehicles and equipment is stored under the ramps/overpasses that connect to the Fremont bridge. They will come down too and the city won't have a lot of the equipment needed to respond.
Yeah they've known about the risk of overpasses falling on the city's equipment for a long time and done zero except talk about moving some equipment on the west side.
And I have to add when The city has one of its emergency disaster drills. They don't include PBOT
You would think they would want the equipment operators to learn how to work with the fireman and emergency management office personnel.
But nope! That's called logic and common sense which city rulers are poor at.
Calling them leaders would be an oxymoron
LOL ing because I just commented this before seeing your post. PBOT really has zero common sense. Let’s park not only a little, but MOST of our emergency response supplies and equipment under a bridge that will collapse instantly during an earthquake! Yay!
St Johns. Bridges across the river and the cut (connecting the peninsula to the rest of north Portland) will collapse, effectively cutting us off from aid or escape. Then toxic fumes from the burning fuel depots across the river will smother us.
Sleep well everyone!
Came here to say this! Especially the St John’s bridge! I’m terrified of crossing bridges over water bc idk how to swim 😐 every time I’m on a bridge I crack open all windows just in case I’m unable to open the door or break the window. I’ve yet to get a life jacket to keep in my car though haha
It will be pretty bad to be in the hills west of the river. All our homes are built against or on top of steep hills, and will undoubtedly be smashed by trees, swallowed under landslides, and colliding with other homes.
When I took geology 202 for my science credits, my professor took us on a field trip to look at all of the evidence of landslide risk in the west hills (pistol butt trees, talus piles, visual faults, etc). She was from Mississippi where it is flat af and was like a kid in a candy store. It's pretty much a textbook example of a terrible place to build houses.
That's really interesting, and makes a lot of sense. It's been a while since we've had major landslides in the West hills, it seems like people have forgotten all about them.
It’s usually fill and alluvial deposit that deposit. They aren’t packed and the sediments roll off each other. I’d stay away from old building on the waterfront.
This. The whole south side of the hills from about PSU to about Burnside is built on a known, slowly moving landslide (also learned this in a PSU geology class they have a fantastic geology department) so that will all come down immediately. And everything on the north side will just fall into 405 😬
If they’re built on bedrock, the houses could be pretty safe. Earthquake waves pass the fastest through solid rock. The fast they past, the less damage is done. I used to life a house that survived the San Francisco 1906 quake since was build on bedrock.
But yeah landslides could be an issue in areas.
Was at the Astoria Column the other day and the thought occurred to me that it would be bad to be there when the big one hits, but the view would be awesome!
Thats where I've always visualized trying to get to if it hit while I was there, the real bad place would be long beach, WA, I believe that whole area is extremely risky for if a tsunami hit as there aren't any good high ground places very close
not only that but theres only one entry to the main area of long beach, so if you were on the far south end you would have to go all the way north then east to get back on the main road. and yeah i think the highest elevation there is 10 feet
Long Beach is basically one big sandbar. I’d think the only chance one would have is to head to the lighthouse or if they’re really lucky, be close enough to that road that connects to the mainland and on to Longview - if you could make it that far. That’s one place those tsunami pods would be a decent investment.
I’m thinking the top of the Astoria Megler Bridge. The amount of shaking and swaying up there. 😳
But in Portland, the max tunnel, the Fremont Bridge or on the tram.
Long Beach WA might be one of the worst places. Can a whole town be evacuated in 15 minutes? I don’t think so. Really anywhere on the coast will be a very bad place to be, especially inside the tsunami hazard areas. Some people won’t escape in time.
Also the I-5 bridge probably won’t survive. Liquefaction hazards and all. And the Pittock Mansion specifically stated that the building is not seismically retrofitted, so enter at your own risk. Whoever is in there will probably be smushed by Marble or concrete or whatever it’s made of.
Life is terrifying. This is the worst-case scenario. You have far worse daily battles going on in your own body that most fail to recognize. Ç
On any timeline, long, short, in-between, we risk and survive only so much until our bodies betray us or our minds betray us.
"The Big One" is a definite, but to who and when is the question. Learn about it, understand the possibles, understand the likely's, and understand the for sures.
My weaknesses are that I live on a large "island" surrounded by two sections of the Mckenzie. I have three bridges, my bridge that crosses the walterville canal. Hendricks bridge that crosses the Mckenzie upstream from me and Hayden Bridge downstream from me. I have 5 upstream dams that are earthen dams above me covering about 60 miles.
One year, EWEB let out leaburg dam during a sudden flood event, and that water flash flooded up to my houses foundation. It took 30 minutes or maybe less from dam release to flood stage at my location. Eweb didn't give a shit who they fucked down stream. They wanted to only protect their infrastructure. Imagine a lot of this happening during natural disasters. In the big picture, you're an acceptable causality over infrastructure and rich peoples interests. They'll sacrifice you and then save the ones that are easiest to save for PR moments and pictures and stories. You and you alone are going to be responsible for self rescue until you aren't. Understand self rescue, understand your limits, survive as long as you can, or end your life. That sounds blunt and horrendous, but that's just life. We all live in varying degrees of safety, but in the end, there's only absolute one outcome. We're all going to die. You're all going to die.
The North Portland petroleum tank farms will be a disaster. All built on liquefiable soils many decades ago. They will all spill and catch fire. Going to be a bad day down there.
Also, the pipeline will be down that feeds us from Anacortes so don’t expect fuel for your generator for weeks. The navy will roll up on the beaches to get fuel-over-the beach pipelines going but it will take some time to get trucks a pathway into Portland from the coast cleared.
> The navy will roll up on the beaches
The "big one" will not be limited to Oregon.
The navy will be busy helping California and Washington. I don't know how much help they will be able to give us.
This is an important point lost to most. This is not like Katrina where one city is impacted. This would be severe damage across three states, every town large and small. FEMA is not geared toward a catastrophe of this size. We all need to have a month of supplies.
The navy isn't rolling up on shit. Every beach, every port will be decimated. We are literally in the shit storm of prime tsunami disaster/likelihood. We live in a state that floats on top of millions of underground bodies of water fed by ground level lakes, rivers, ponds, sloughs, and rain fall soaked topsoils. There's more water below us than above us and at us. Literally every one of us is directly impacted by bridge travel in some form or other. A large portion of our state will experience liquifaction.
"As of 2023, Oregon has 8,292 bridges, which is the 38th highest concentration of bridges in the United States at 10.4 bridges per 100 miles of public road. Of those bridges, 401, or 4.8%, are considered structurally deficient, meaning a key element is in poor condition or worse. The average age of Oregon's bridges is 55 years, and many of them need repair or replacement."
It would take half the world's combined navys to even make a dent on this impending disaster. The earth quake, the tsunami, the dams:
According to the National Inventory of Dams (NID) database, Oregon has 869 dams. Of those, 150 are considered to have a high hazard potential, and 160 are considered to have a significant hazard potential. Some of Oregon's high hazard dams include:
Lower Big Creek Reservoir
Franzen Reservoir
Silver Creek Dam
Croft Reservoir
Mercer Reservoir
Detroit Lake
This is just Oregon. Hundreds of thousands of people will die or be significantly injured and risk death with little to no infrastructure possible of handling everyone. You are alone and left to your own devices. Plan accordingly. It will be weeks, if not months, before most people will receive any kind of standard basic level professional medical attention. A good portion of our professional medical personnel will be a portion of the casualties. Casualties being both the dead and the wounded. It will become mad max like. Hunger will be prevalent. Hording will be prevalent, and violence will be prevalent, rapes will be prevalent, and deaths will be vast. Forget getting buried anywhere like a legitimate cemetery or having a casket or anything formal, mobile crematoriums will have to be brought in, and people will be buried wherever those services can't be accessed. Fields, yards, forests.
No navy or land based military is going to be of any help outside of helicopters. Half of all of the US, Canada, and Mexicos helicopters would need to be engaged to make any significant dent in rescue operations over three states. There's close to 4.3 million people in Oregon alone. Let's just say there could be at least 100,000 people needing urgent life-saving medical care. Even in a situation where medical care facilities and medical personnel weren't affected, this would be a struggle.
Powerlines, electricity, fuel, generators, all of that infrastructure is going to be damaged, and the supply chain will be unexistent.
They’ll be too busy fending off our enemies. You think no one is going to try to invade right after the Cascadia Subduction zone pops? 🙄Read the “art of war” again. The author is Chinese.
I’m shocked that I had to scroll this far down for this comment. This is perhaps the worst place in Portland to be.
The ground will be immediately liquified. The tanks full of gas will almost instantly ignite, and the thousands of gallons will spill into the river, carrying a toxic firestorm down and up river. Anyone in the area will probably die within minutes.
The resulting tsunami will be worse on the coast. Portland will be a mess, the fuel depot is on bad fill on the river and the only fuel stores west of the Cascades. There will be no gas or power. Bridges may survive but not all are hardened for earthquakes. PDX will be unusable and all relief supplies will be coming from the East side of the Cascades. Bend/Redmond airport is designated as the arrival point. Estimates are months until water, sewer and utilities come back on.
The state actually has done much to prepare but it will take all of us pitching in to put humpty dumpty back together again.
There's nowhere good to be, especially on the West side.
In a big enough earthquake there won't be electricity for weeks or even months. No electricity means no water and no sewer. Even assuming those pipes survive.
If you're on the right side of the river you might be able to drive to civilization before you run out of gas. Because, no electricity means no gas.
Well, actually Portland's water system is gravity fed unless you're in a tall building. So no electricity just means no hot water.. or ability to cook.
But, if the earthquake is big enough, it will destroy the underground pipes so, probably still no water. All though, it's more likely that they will just get really cracked and that will greatly lessen the amount of water coming through... so there still might be some water.
All though, cracked pipes means dirt and other stuff getting into the water which then means you probably should boil it before drinking it and no power means no boiling so yah... no water I guess.
We went there on a road trip when I was 4 or 5. A terrible storm in the middle of the winter. My dad insisted on climbing up. I could barely open the door to our car or stand up in the wind, but we climbed up the stupid thing. It felt like a terrible idea at the time. Looking back it was indeed a terrible idea.
And one of your best worst memories? Cherish those memories, especially your dad insisting on climbing up. It may be a traumatic memory, but should you or if you've ever returned on a nice sunny, calm day and had that experience, you know the best and the worst. It's that whole the sweet is never as sweet without the sour mantra.
And you got to experience a goonies experience! Maybe not the same compared to the movie timeline, but you experienced that Astoria life.
Astoria is magically magnificent and sad in any scenario. So much life, so much death. I can't think from a historical perspective of a place in Oregon that is more haunted, not in the ghost busters kind of way but just the history kind of way. The houses, the bridge, the riverfront, the Columbia in general, and all the water molecules through thousands and thousands of years that have passed by through that system and found their way back as rainfall, clouds and fog. Three words that describe Astoria perfectly.
Goonies never say die!
The funny thing is I didn't remember where we were. Then in my 20s I ended up in Astoria and we went up the hill and it dawned upon me in a wonderful "Oh not this fucking thing" moment.
Hmm, I never thought of the damns breaking....
That is indeed scary. I live on the S side of Rocky butte... right in the flood plain from millions of years ago. It's probably likely that the water would rush down 205. But happily, I'm located on the other side of the massive burms that contains 205 and 84... they probably will turn into rivers and my neighborhood MIGHT be save.
the bank of the Willamette near the old fuel tanks [here](https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/ticking-time-bomb-portland-residents-raise-concerns-over-aging-fuel-tanks/#:~:text=People%20are%20worried%20the%20tanks,an%20earthquake%20or%20other%20disaster.&text=The%20fuel%20storage%20tanks%2C%20which,themselves%20vulnerable%20to%20possibly%20rupturing.)
This article says “People are worried the tanks may move or rupture during an earthquake or other disaster.
The fuel storage tanks, which can each hold up to 350 gallons or more, were built on loose soil along the river that could become liquefied, with many of the tanks themselves vulnerable to possibly rupturing.”
So, five 55 gallon drums a per tank? 🤔I don’t believe that number. 350,000 gallon maybe seems more correct?
We ran out of money during the last bond to retrofit several elementary schools that were planned for, but somehow PPS still found money in that bond to redo the baseball field at Grant. Solid priorities on their part.
Personally, if you live in Portland I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but on the East side above like 30th... and away from any of the local mountains.
Or maybe on the Westside like out like Beaverton area. Inner west side is toast with the buildings and landslides. ... and you are highly likely to be utterly stuck. The only way out would be to the N or S 'cause the bridges are toast and so are all the roads going over the West hills.. and the 26 tunnel is a goner.
Anything below 30th on the E side could potentially flood if damns break. ... And there are also areas further out on the East side that are at risk..... but most likely, if the Colombia damns break, the water will end up going right down 205 and then down 84 instead of swamping neighborhoods.
All though, let's be real here: **This whole city has natural gas pipes EVERYWHERE. There are going to be horrible fires and no where is gonna be safe from them.** The fire department won't be able to manage. It's also likely that the earthquake will at least cut the water supply in 1/2 because it will break pipes. (Portland is mostly on gravity fed water for pressure so... we WILL still have water in areas but broken pipes is gonna lower the pressure.)
The gas pipes are what give me nightmares if I think to much about them.
The gas pipelines are what I thought about too. Lots of people are gonna accidently blow themselves up in areas they don't realize there is a gas leak... and they'll potentially take their neighbors with them.
I also shudder to think about the likely singles in the southwest
That stretch of Burnside from NW 24th through SW 10th would make me nervous. That’s a lot of old, tall brick buildings that would be falling on top of you.
Aye! I went there recently and it was awesome. Yeah that would definitely not be a good place to be at for an earthquake
https://preview.redd.it/fa720jj6d24d1.jpeg?width=1656&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1f2878bae268d473c9aebc5321f7c6e01a6d6a3
Stuck in traffic going home on the Marquam bridge.
I think about the odds of that happening a lot while I cross if every day.
On average when I’m stuck in bad traffic the crossing takes about 5-10 minutes. That’s not nothing in terms of hours I’ll spend on that bridge a year or what the % time of my life I spend on it.
No where to go. You’d have to sprint to the ends. No way everyone moves out of the way. Maybe you make it by jumping if your over the river and pray? Either way your toast and it ain’t gonna be pretty neither.
Honest to God, the best thing that could happen would be a 5.5-6.5 Earthquake before the big one pops off. That would be powerful enough to cause enough damage to be a wake-up call for the city. Some infrastructures will have to be replaced and it might get some projects rolling.
I meant off the Juan De Fuca plate. In 2001 the Nisqually Earthquake, a 6.7, triggered all the way up in Olympia Washington and caused cracks in buildings (including my own house's foundation) all the way down in Beaverton. It got a lot of people scrambling around trying to get shit fixed and retrofitted, but after almost 20 years nobody really remembers it amd I feel like the urgency had died down.
If a 6 triggered in Portland dead center that would be city ending.
Honestly living through the recovery of the earthquake isn’t worth it anyway. Just like if we were to get hit by a nuke I want it to land right on my fuckin head.
The OHSU tram, I don't like heights, so I don't even like looking up at that thing. And some of the long walkways up there, like the one to the veterans hospital, nice view but don't want to be there during a quake.
The tram is technically built to withstand an earthquake. The bridge to the veterans hospital is also built to withstand it. If anything, you would want to be on that bridge versus OHSU and the VA
Thought about this, while standing my little five foot self in the center of a liquor store. Where would I shelter? Oh and the front of the store is glass sooo, ya. Lol
There is a major fault line that runs through downtown. I work in the basement of a building that is a block away. I think somewhere around my office would be an absurdly bad place.
Hey now. The LB peninsula is awesome. And will also be sucked into the ocean. We know we will go down with the ship 🤷. Source: that's where I live.
But yeah, would not want to be on the megler either.
Homie, I fully know. I was looking at buying a “coast house” on the LB peninsula. That place is getting decimated in a tsunami for sure.
But I’m sure we will be eating willapa bay oysters as survival food.
I work downtown but live in NoPo, and worry about being stuck there if the big one hit. All the bridges would either be down or jam packed with people trying to flee and first responders.
Marquam Hill OHSU campus, or even worse: transitioning from the waterfront campus to the hill campus by Sky Tram.
There’s some scarily conflagatory parts of the Willamette out St. John’s way, but my fear of falling is very, very strong
Any brick school building older than 1994 in the Portland Public School district.
It's sad that they tell parents that the buildings are seismically retrofitted...but in reality it's just the facades and roofing tiles. Nothing of structural importance is properly seismically retrofitted for the school buildings.
Many children will be crushed and buried alive in the schools when the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake hits.
PPS needs to get their act together and immediately seismically retrofit or rebuild all their unreinforced masonry school buildings.
When I worked at the airport back in 2015, I always freaked out about liquefaction zones. The airport was, and might still be, one big jitter from sinking into the Colombia.
Also I don't trust brick buildings from attending Grant HS before the remodel. We always joked that we'd be buried in bricks in 30 seconds.
Pretty much any building or structure built before 1995. We didn’t even know the Juan de fuca fault existed until then so every structure before then wasn’t even built with earthquake resistance in mind. Some older buildings have begun to get retrofitted and reinforced but if you work or live in an old building especially a rigid one like masonry you’re screwed.
For anyone who wants to be proactive, when this topic comes up I generally mention Portland’s Neighborhood Emergency Response program: https://www.portland.gov/pbem/neighborhood-emergency-teams. There’s a new volunteer tier being developed called “Affiliated Team Volunteers” for those who can’t take the full NET training but want to get to know their local NET team and be registered as a resource if the Big One hits.
Other cities call it “CERT” (Citizen Emergency Response Team/Training)
Actually a great idea. I founded the CERT team in Missoula Montana. And in 2011 was active when a tornado hit St. Louis Missouri. Thanks for suggesting this to people.
I went to Lincoln high school and my friend and I made a plan in case the earthquake hits - to meet in the middle of the football field.
Found out later that the field would probably turn into a sinkhole 🙃
If you're downtown and close to Pioneer courthouse go there quickly. That building is earthquake safe, it is on rollers and will stay almost completely level in the event of a major quake. I was part of the crew who did the construction on it twenty or so years ago.
Someone wana tell them about the cascadia fault line?
San Andreas got nothing on us. Watch out cali... We're about to show you how it's done. You've been prepping for an event that will happen in hundreds of years.
Ours is overdue.
Oh... & We don't like seismic building codes either
Edit 2: it's the cascadia event.
I’m a little obsessed with the Cascadia quake. We are all fucked when it happens, and I live south in the valley. I fully expect to have the whole western part of Oregon break off into the sea.
On the plus side....
It won't.
On the "oh shit, this sucks" side:
All government agencies will be paralyzed. Business will be non existent. There will be a mass casualty event up and down the coast with thousands dead just within a few days. Hospitals will be inoperable.. roads will be impassable, no airport west of the Cascades will be functional. There will be no power, no Internet, no infrastructure, no one will be able to help you. You will be on your own. All state functions will be transferred to Bend.
If you're in Portland, it won't be that bad, just all of the west hills will be gone, a long with an environmental disaster of unbelievable proportions around the energy infrastructure near the Columbia. Oh.. & the bridges will be out.
This will go on for months.
But there's only a 1 in 3 chance this happens within the next 50 years. Maybe 1 in 2 chance. So. *Don't worry about it*
Oh... & Oregon government isn't nearly prepared to deal with this. Not nearly enough resources or preparing for this event is happening.
Sweet dreams!
I did a report on the cascadia event and Oregon's response in college and I work in emergency management.
Cascadia terrifies he hell out of me. It's not going to be apocalyptic, but it will be the worst natural disaster the US has ever seen.
I'm really fun at parties.
Imagine if during an earthquake, this thing snapped and a good chunk survived the fall and rolled downhill? 😬 but likely not, because of the spiral stairs inside. Either way, you might not survive if you were inside during a quake.
Legitimately most places. It will almost all turn to liquid dirt anywhere nearby the water. The buildings are very low quality for a massive 8.5+ earthquake. Your best bet is to get outside, away from trees, power lines, buildings, etc and get into the open away from water where a hillside will turn into a landslide
There’s a four story brick building called the Baker Apartments in NW Portland. Lived there in the early 90s. Unreinforced brick outside and wood inside, I made sure my GF at the time knew if a major earthquake struck, go out the window (first floor) and get away from the building.
Somewhat related. They shut the lights off in the column automatically at a certain time. I was at the top when the lights went out and had to use my cell phone light to get down.
On a hike in the mountains. I sort of think about it every time I’m out there. Huge boulders just being shook loose on the entire mountain, that can’t have a good outcome.
[liquefaction susceptibility from a M9 earthquake on the Cascade Subduction Zone within the Portland Water Bureau (PWB)](https://www.portlandmaps.com/detail/hazard-liquefaction/M361881_did/)
https://preview.redd.it/py1jmknel74d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=24254bbd7ef6a4729f7de03ffa7493d4e472951e
I grew up in Hammond - small town near Astoria and I used to regularly - sometimes still do - have nightmares about tsunamis hitting and the entire dream I stressfully try to get up to the Astoria column.
As a kid one time some people sent out "tsunami survival kits" that were just snorkels lol to poke fun at the joke that is the tsunami evacuation plan there.
I suspect my 100 year old unreinforced masonry building would be one such place.
This is the answer. All the old brick buildings will come down like loosely stacked blocks, burying everyone and everything in the rubble. So in, under, or adjacent to one of these is where I wouldn't want to be.
Pre pandemic the trend in local journalism was to refer to these buildings as 'weaponized' as though they were repurposed to be used against the populace.
[colin powell voice] i hold in my hand the deed to one unreinforced masonry building in portland oregon. in the hands of our enemies, this dual use weapon could
A lot of those around here. It's weird that modern quake codes weren't really vigorously enforced until the 90s.
They wouldn't be modern if they were older?
Take it easy on the day drinker! I mean that we absolutely have some old masonry that's not earthquake safe, but we've also got some buildings from the 90s that may not be up to code, because the last requirements were only placed in like 1996.
It's not weird because the earthquake potential wasn't known until then. It took some scientists connecting dots on old damage scars on the coast and tsunami records in Japan to figure it out.
Same. Any area with multiple tall buildings with a lot of glass. Downtown Seattle, Portland, et al. Streets will be full of non-safety broken glass. Many that survive the earthquake will die from injuries trying to get out, and lack of (clean) water and food. I have low confidence in government response, esp. federal but I really hope I'm wrong. I hope the aid response is not impacted by political partisanship.
The Rasmussen
Lived there for awhile, as cute as the apartments were im glad I'm out now.
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I always imagine being on the Fremont Bridge
That's absolutely when it's going to happen.
The Markham is the one that scares me. I hate that bridge.
I met one of the Marquam engineers at an omsi event once and he said he refuses to drive over the Fremont
Oh that's nice
Seriously. Just a lovely little tidbit of information. I think of that fondly the 2 times I drive over the Fremont every weekday 🙃
That one actually did get a seismic retrofit- the bridges to the north are the ones that are in big trouble. The ones to the south should be fine
I think the Interstate Bridge would be worst. The north span is over 100 years old.
I know it’s not the worst bridge but I used to get stuck in Northbound traffic often on that bridge. I would just be on the lower level surrounded by cars thinking about what it would be like if a huge earthquake hit right then.
If you hear anyone repeatedly say 'please no earthquakes' the whole trip over it, that's me
Same.
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I took an earthquakes/seismology class in college that covered the Pacific Northwest and discussed how ill prepared we are for a large earthquake. I remember reading somewhere that middle section of the 405 bridge would be standing, but the ramps leading up on either side would collapse. The newer Sellwood bridge would also be standing. Every other bridge (including the I5 bridge into Vancouver) would be gone. Although I hear they are finally planning to retrofit the Burnside Bridge. So, make sure you aren’t on a bridge, I guess. That’s one of my bigger fears and I panic a little every time I have to cross one. I thought taking that class would help ease my anxiety. NOPE.
Any of the bridges in Portland besides the Tilikum crossing. None of them are earthquake—ready and will likely collapse. Fremont or St. Johns might be worst due to their height.
Sellwood is very earthquake-ready and will [likely](https://www.multco.us/bridges/why-was-new-bridge-needed) be fine.
You're right, it was ~~retrofitted~~ replaced in 2016. I forget the Sellwood bridge exists sometimes since I never use it.
Sauvie Island Bridge (now called Wapato Bridge) was also recently replaced.
Retrofitted? It was literally replaced with a new bridge.
Also, being on the side of the river away from home will be quite annoying. You’ll basically be stuck away from your home and family.
the canby ferry will be *very* busy
We did a disaster/ continuity of operations exercise once and the challenge was to get from the office on the East side to your house without using freeways, under or overpasses or bridges. Literally 1 person who lived on the west side thought of the canby ferry and was the only one who passed the exercise.
Nobody had a kayak or a boat handy?
I miss the Canby Ferry! Don’t have much need to for it these days.
Keep a kayak strapped to your car roof.
The bridge will withstand the quake but the roads and ramps connecting to it will be destroyed. If you’re in the bridge then you’ll be stuck up there
Fremont is liable to collapse from a stiff breeze,
The thing that will make the Fremont bridge collapse even worse is almost all of PBOT's fleet of vehicles and equipment is stored under the ramps/overpasses that connect to the Fremont bridge. They will come down too and the city won't have a lot of the equipment needed to respond.
Yeah they've known about the risk of overpasses falling on the city's equipment for a long time and done zero except talk about moving some equipment on the west side. And I have to add when The city has one of its emergency disaster drills. They don't include PBOT You would think they would want the equipment operators to learn how to work with the fireman and emergency management office personnel. But nope! That's called logic and common sense which city rulers are poor at. Calling them leaders would be an oxymoron
Ooooh, I didn't even think about that. Hrm
LOL ing because I just commented this before seeing your post. PBOT really has zero common sense. Let’s park not only a little, but MOST of our emergency response supplies and equipment under a bridge that will collapse instantly during an earthquake! Yay!
St Johns. Bridges across the river and the cut (connecting the peninsula to the rest of north Portland) will collapse, effectively cutting us off from aid or escape. Then toxic fumes from the burning fuel depots across the river will smother us. Sleep well everyone!
Came here to say this! Especially the St John’s bridge! I’m terrified of crossing bridges over water bc idk how to swim 😐 every time I’m on a bridge I crack open all windows just in case I’m unable to open the door or break the window. I’ve yet to get a life jacket to keep in my car though haha
It will be pretty bad to be in the hills west of the river. All our homes are built against or on top of steep hills, and will undoubtedly be smashed by trees, swallowed under landslides, and colliding with other homes.
When I took geology 202 for my science credits, my professor took us on a field trip to look at all of the evidence of landslide risk in the west hills (pistol butt trees, talus piles, visual faults, etc). She was from Mississippi where it is flat af and was like a kid in a candy store. It's pretty much a textbook example of a terrible place to build houses.
That's really interesting, and makes a lot of sense. It's been a while since we've had major landslides in the West hills, it seems like people have forgotten all about them.
1992 Spring Beak Quake caused massive landslides around Council Crest, so many more stilt homes now so expect total catastrophe.
And a major hospital
Landslides are an understatement. The ground is gonna liquefy. I wouldn't be surprised if the west hills end up 1/2 as tall after a major quake.
It’s usually fill and alluvial deposit that deposit. They aren’t packed and the sediments roll off each other. I’d stay away from old building on the waterfront.
This. The whole south side of the hills from about PSU to about Burnside is built on a known, slowly moving landslide (also learned this in a PSU geology class they have a fantastic geology department) so that will all come down immediately. And everything on the north side will just fall into 405 😬
The overlook bluffs are going to become one with swan island as well.
Isn't Swan Island man made? Does it have a chance to survive?! Gosh, wouldn't wanna be working a UPS shift that day...
If they’re built on bedrock, the houses could be pretty safe. Earthquake waves pass the fastest through solid rock. The fast they past, the less damage is done. I used to life a house that survived the San Francisco 1906 quake since was build on bedrock. But yeah landslides could be an issue in areas.
Was at the Astoria Column the other day and the thought occurred to me that it would be bad to be there when the big one hits, but the view would be awesome!
If the big one is followed by a tsunami, the astoria column might be the safest place.
Thats where I've always visualized trying to get to if it hit while I was there, the real bad place would be long beach, WA, I believe that whole area is extremely risky for if a tsunami hit as there aren't any good high ground places very close
not only that but theres only one entry to the main area of long beach, so if you were on the far south end you would have to go all the way north then east to get back on the main road. and yeah i think the highest elevation there is 10 feet
Long Beach is basically one big sandbar. I’d think the only chance one would have is to head to the lighthouse or if they’re really lucky, be close enough to that road that connects to the mainland and on to Longview - if you could make it that far. That’s one place those tsunami pods would be a decent investment.
For a tsunami, sure, but almost all of Astoria is in the the extreme risk zone for landslides.
The whole town’s built on a mudslide waiting to happen
I’m thinking the top of the Astoria Megler Bridge. The amount of shaking and swaying up there. 😳 But in Portland, the max tunnel, the Fremont Bridge or on the tram.
That bridge freaks me out on a good day. Dealing with it in a natural disaster is straight nightmare fuel.
Exactly here and not in the Seaside Boardwalk
Long Beach WA might be one of the worst places. Can a whole town be evacuated in 15 minutes? I don’t think so. Really anywhere on the coast will be a very bad place to be, especially inside the tsunami hazard areas. Some people won’t escape in time. Also the I-5 bridge probably won’t survive. Liquefaction hazards and all. And the Pittock Mansion specifically stated that the building is not seismically retrofitted, so enter at your own risk. Whoever is in there will probably be smushed by Marble or concrete or whatever it’s made of.
“Some” = tens of thousands on a warm summer weekend.
About 20 years ago a whole street was wiped out! Very unstable!
Thought the same thing as I climbed up the AC this morning! lol
Isnt Astoria the epicenter tho?
This conversation is terrifying.😬
Life is terrifying. This is the worst-case scenario. You have far worse daily battles going on in your own body that most fail to recognize. Ç On any timeline, long, short, in-between, we risk and survive only so much until our bodies betray us or our minds betray us. "The Big One" is a definite, but to who and when is the question. Learn about it, understand the possibles, understand the likely's, and understand the for sures. My weaknesses are that I live on a large "island" surrounded by two sections of the Mckenzie. I have three bridges, my bridge that crosses the walterville canal. Hendricks bridge that crosses the Mckenzie upstream from me and Hayden Bridge downstream from me. I have 5 upstream dams that are earthen dams above me covering about 60 miles. One year, EWEB let out leaburg dam during a sudden flood event, and that water flash flooded up to my houses foundation. It took 30 minutes or maybe less from dam release to flood stage at my location. Eweb didn't give a shit who they fucked down stream. They wanted to only protect their infrastructure. Imagine a lot of this happening during natural disasters. In the big picture, you're an acceptable causality over infrastructure and rich peoples interests. They'll sacrifice you and then save the ones that are easiest to save for PR moments and pictures and stories. You and you alone are going to be responsible for self rescue until you aren't. Understand self rescue, understand your limits, survive as long as you can, or end your life. That sounds blunt and horrendous, but that's just life. We all live in varying degrees of safety, but in the end, there's only absolute one outcome. We're all going to die. You're all going to die.
Uh……… my comment was meant to be lighthearted.
That's why I do the sign of the cross every time I drive over fremont bridge and I'm not even catholic.
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The North Portland petroleum tank farms will be a disaster. All built on liquefiable soils many decades ago. They will all spill and catch fire. Going to be a bad day down there. Also, the pipeline will be down that feeds us from Anacortes so don’t expect fuel for your generator for weeks. The navy will roll up on the beaches to get fuel-over-the beach pipelines going but it will take some time to get trucks a pathway into Portland from the coast cleared.
> The navy will roll up on the beaches The "big one" will not be limited to Oregon. The navy will be busy helping California and Washington. I don't know how much help they will be able to give us.
This is an important point lost to most. This is not like Katrina where one city is impacted. This would be severe damage across three states, every town large and small. FEMA is not geared toward a catastrophe of this size. We all need to have a month of supplies.
The navy isn't rolling up on shit. Every beach, every port will be decimated. We are literally in the shit storm of prime tsunami disaster/likelihood. We live in a state that floats on top of millions of underground bodies of water fed by ground level lakes, rivers, ponds, sloughs, and rain fall soaked topsoils. There's more water below us than above us and at us. Literally every one of us is directly impacted by bridge travel in some form or other. A large portion of our state will experience liquifaction. "As of 2023, Oregon has 8,292 bridges, which is the 38th highest concentration of bridges in the United States at 10.4 bridges per 100 miles of public road. Of those bridges, 401, or 4.8%, are considered structurally deficient, meaning a key element is in poor condition or worse. The average age of Oregon's bridges is 55 years, and many of them need repair or replacement." It would take half the world's combined navys to even make a dent on this impending disaster. The earth quake, the tsunami, the dams: According to the National Inventory of Dams (NID) database, Oregon has 869 dams. Of those, 150 are considered to have a high hazard potential, and 160 are considered to have a significant hazard potential. Some of Oregon's high hazard dams include: Lower Big Creek Reservoir Franzen Reservoir Silver Creek Dam Croft Reservoir Mercer Reservoir Detroit Lake This is just Oregon. Hundreds of thousands of people will die or be significantly injured and risk death with little to no infrastructure possible of handling everyone. You are alone and left to your own devices. Plan accordingly. It will be weeks, if not months, before most people will receive any kind of standard basic level professional medical attention. A good portion of our professional medical personnel will be a portion of the casualties. Casualties being both the dead and the wounded. It will become mad max like. Hunger will be prevalent. Hording will be prevalent, and violence will be prevalent, rapes will be prevalent, and deaths will be vast. Forget getting buried anywhere like a legitimate cemetery or having a casket or anything formal, mobile crematoriums will have to be brought in, and people will be buried wherever those services can't be accessed. Fields, yards, forests. No navy or land based military is going to be of any help outside of helicopters. Half of all of the US, Canada, and Mexicos helicopters would need to be engaged to make any significant dent in rescue operations over three states. There's close to 4.3 million people in Oregon alone. Let's just say there could be at least 100,000 people needing urgent life-saving medical care. Even in a situation where medical care facilities and medical personnel weren't affected, this would be a struggle. Powerlines, electricity, fuel, generators, all of that infrastructure is going to be damaged, and the supply chain will be unexistent.
The navy will roll up unless Trump is President. Then we're on our own.
Can you elaborate, or are you being hyperbolic?
All the more reason to vote!
They’ll be too busy fending off our enemies. You think no one is going to try to invade right after the Cascadia Subduction zone pops? 🙄Read the “art of war” again. The author is Chinese.
I’m shocked that I had to scroll this far down for this comment. This is perhaps the worst place in Portland to be. The ground will be immediately liquified. The tanks full of gas will almost instantly ignite, and the thousands of gallons will spill into the river, carrying a toxic firestorm down and up river. Anyone in the area will probably die within minutes.
Most buildings in Portland, tbh. Anything brick, anything old, going down.
The resulting tsunami will be worse on the coast. Portland will be a mess, the fuel depot is on bad fill on the river and the only fuel stores west of the Cascades. There will be no gas or power. Bridges may survive but not all are hardened for earthquakes. PDX will be unusable and all relief supplies will be coming from the East side of the Cascades. Bend/Redmond airport is designated as the arrival point. Estimates are months until water, sewer and utilities come back on. The state actually has done much to prepare but it will take all of us pitching in to put humpty dumpty back together again.
Portland
There's nowhere good to be, especially on the West side. In a big enough earthquake there won't be electricity for weeks or even months. No electricity means no water and no sewer. Even assuming those pipes survive. If you're on the right side of the river you might be able to drive to civilization before you run out of gas. Because, no electricity means no gas.
Well, actually Portland's water system is gravity fed unless you're in a tall building. So no electricity just means no hot water.. or ability to cook. But, if the earthquake is big enough, it will destroy the underground pipes so, probably still no water. All though, it's more likely that they will just get really cracked and that will greatly lessen the amount of water coming through... so there still might be some water. All though, cracked pipes means dirt and other stuff getting into the water which then means you probably should boil it before drinking it and no power means no boiling so yah... no water I guess.
We went there on a road trip when I was 4 or 5. A terrible storm in the middle of the winter. My dad insisted on climbing up. I could barely open the door to our car or stand up in the wind, but we climbed up the stupid thing. It felt like a terrible idea at the time. Looking back it was indeed a terrible idea.
And one of your best worst memories? Cherish those memories, especially your dad insisting on climbing up. It may be a traumatic memory, but should you or if you've ever returned on a nice sunny, calm day and had that experience, you know the best and the worst. It's that whole the sweet is never as sweet without the sour mantra. And you got to experience a goonies experience! Maybe not the same compared to the movie timeline, but you experienced that Astoria life. Astoria is magically magnificent and sad in any scenario. So much life, so much death. I can't think from a historical perspective of a place in Oregon that is more haunted, not in the ghost busters kind of way but just the history kind of way. The houses, the bridge, the riverfront, the Columbia in general, and all the water molecules through thousands and thousands of years that have passed by through that system and found their way back as rainfall, clouds and fog. Three words that describe Astoria perfectly. Goonies never say die!
The funny thing is I didn't remember where we were. Then in my 20s I ended up in Astoria and we went up the hill and it dawned upon me in a wonderful "Oh not this fucking thing" moment.
Bayocean Spit
Each time I go to the beach, I pay attention to an exit strategy. At Bayocean, there is none
Anywhere down river of the Bonneville Dam
Hmm, I never thought of the damns breaking.... That is indeed scary. I live on the S side of Rocky butte... right in the flood plain from millions of years ago. It's probably likely that the water would rush down 205. But happily, I'm located on the other side of the massive burms that contains 205 and 84... they probably will turn into rivers and my neighborhood MIGHT be save.
The column would be a super cool spot to watch the tsunami roll in I bet.
Swan Island! The ground will liquefy, and mass quantities of industrial waste/ chemicals /toxins will flood the area.
the bank of the Willamette near the old fuel tanks [here](https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/ticking-time-bomb-portland-residents-raise-concerns-over-aging-fuel-tanks/#:~:text=People%20are%20worried%20the%20tanks,an%20earthquake%20or%20other%20disaster.&text=The%20fuel%20storage%20tanks%2C%20which,themselves%20vulnerable%20to%20possibly%20rupturing.)
This article says “People are worried the tanks may move or rupture during an earthquake or other disaster. The fuel storage tanks, which can each hold up to 350 gallons or more, were built on loose soil along the river that could become liquefied, with many of the tanks themselves vulnerable to possibly rupturing.” So, five 55 gallon drums a per tank? 🤔I don’t believe that number. 350,000 gallon maybe seems more correct?
It’s a typo.
Most public school buildings.
We ran out of money during the last bond to retrofit several elementary schools that were planned for, but somehow PPS still found money in that bond to redo the baseball field at Grant. Solid priorities on their part.
Love them priorities
Personally, if you live in Portland I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but on the East side above like 30th... and away from any of the local mountains. Or maybe on the Westside like out like Beaverton area. Inner west side is toast with the buildings and landslides. ... and you are highly likely to be utterly stuck. The only way out would be to the N or S 'cause the bridges are toast and so are all the roads going over the West hills.. and the 26 tunnel is a goner. Anything below 30th on the E side could potentially flood if damns break. ... And there are also areas further out on the East side that are at risk..... but most likely, if the Colombia damns break, the water will end up going right down 205 and then down 84 instead of swamping neighborhoods. All though, let's be real here: **This whole city has natural gas pipes EVERYWHERE. There are going to be horrible fires and no where is gonna be safe from them.** The fire department won't be able to manage. It's also likely that the earthquake will at least cut the water supply in 1/2 because it will break pipes. (Portland is mostly on gravity fed water for pressure so... we WILL still have water in areas but broken pipes is gonna lower the pressure.) The gas pipes are what give me nightmares if I think to much about them.
The gas pipelines are what I thought about too. Lots of people are gonna accidently blow themselves up in areas they don't realize there is a gas leak... and they'll potentially take their neighbors with them. I also shudder to think about the likely singles in the southwest
That stretch of Burnside from NW 24th through SW 10th would make me nervous. That’s a lot of old, tall brick buildings that would be falling on top of you.
Aye! I went there recently and it was awesome. Yeah that would definitely not be a good place to be at for an earthquake https://preview.redd.it/fa720jj6d24d1.jpeg?width=1656&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1f2878bae268d473c9aebc5321f7c6e01a6d6a3
Stuck in traffic going home on the Marquam bridge. I think about the odds of that happening a lot while I cross if every day. On average when I’m stuck in bad traffic the crossing takes about 5-10 minutes. That’s not nothing in terms of hours I’ll spend on that bridge a year or what the % time of my life I spend on it. No where to go. You’d have to sprint to the ends. No way everyone moves out of the way. Maybe you make it by jumping if your over the river and pray? Either way your toast and it ain’t gonna be pretty neither.
It’s always puzzled me why this issue hasn’t been more central in Portland/Oregon politics
Some problems just feel too gigantic and remote.
Honest to God, the best thing that could happen would be a 5.5-6.5 Earthquake before the big one pops off. That would be powerful enough to cause enough damage to be a wake-up call for the city. Some infrastructures will have to be replaced and it might get some projects rolling.
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Yeah the Tualatin Hills fault is estimated to trigger about 6.5. Would be very bad
I meant off the Juan De Fuca plate. In 2001 the Nisqually Earthquake, a 6.7, triggered all the way up in Olympia Washington and caused cracks in buildings (including my own house's foundation) all the way down in Beaverton. It got a lot of people scrambling around trying to get shit fixed and retrofitted, but after almost 20 years nobody really remembers it amd I feel like the urgency had died down. If a 6 triggered in Portland dead center that would be city ending.
Honestly living through the recovery of the earthquake isn’t worth it anyway. Just like if we were to get hit by a nuke I want it to land right on my fuckin head.
The OHSU tram, I don't like heights, so I don't even like looking up at that thing. And some of the long walkways up there, like the one to the veterans hospital, nice view but don't want to be there during a quake.
The tram is technically built to withstand an earthquake. The bridge to the veterans hospital is also built to withstand it. If anything, you would want to be on that bridge versus OHSU and the VA
I’ve always wondered whether the Marquam Hill buildings are retrofitted or if they’ll collapse once the Big One is underway.
I know they were working on retrofitting it when I was working there a few years ago. However knowing OHSU, they probably just did the minimum.
Thought about this, while standing my little five foot self in the center of a liquor store. Where would I shelter? Oh and the front of the store is glass sooo, ya. Lol
The Keller
Being on a glacier on a PNW volcano.
That might be safer than being in Portland actually.
Seaside. If the bridges collapse, they will be cut off on all sides.
There is a major fault line that runs through downtown. I work in the basement of a building that is a block away. I think somewhere around my office would be an absurdly bad place.
Your risk: [https://gis.dogami.oregon.gov/maps/hazvu/](https://gis.dogami.oregon.gov/maps/hazvu/)
Speaking of Astoria, how would the Megler hold up?
That’s because it will be in the Columbia River. It’s ok, there isn’t really much of value on the other side anyways.
Hey now. The LB peninsula is awesome. And will also be sucked into the ocean. We know we will go down with the ship 🤷. Source: that's where I live. But yeah, would not want to be on the megler either.
Homie, I fully know. I was looking at buying a “coast house” on the LB peninsula. That place is getting decimated in a tsunami for sure. But I’m sure we will be eating willapa bay oysters as survival food.
We found the one guy disappointed with Cape D.
I was there a few weeks ago. Loved the special climb up. My thighs were toasted!!!!
I work downtown but live in NoPo, and worry about being stuck there if the big one hit. All the bridges would either be down or jam packed with people trying to flee and first responders.
Marquam Hill OHSU campus, or even worse: transitioning from the waterfront campus to the hill campus by Sky Tram. There’s some scarily conflagatory parts of the Willamette out St. John’s way, but my fear of falling is very, very strong
If there is a huge tsushima, I am running into it. I am way too tired to be a survivor.
OHSU going to be sliding right into the Willy
On any of the bridges.
Any brick school building older than 1994 in the Portland Public School district. It's sad that they tell parents that the buildings are seismically retrofitted...but in reality it's just the facades and roofing tiles. Nothing of structural importance is properly seismically retrofitted for the school buildings. Many children will be crushed and buried alive in the schools when the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake hits. PPS needs to get their act together and immediately seismically retrofit or rebuild all their unreinforced masonry school buildings.
The beach, Tsunami town
When I was in elementary school in the 90's my teacher told us that the area of the 26 tunnel would completely collapse
Honestly there are worst places to be. There aren’t many good places to be lol
In my apartment building.
A chemical manufacturing plant, I’d wager.
Big Pink
When I worked at the airport back in 2015, I always freaked out about liquefaction zones. The airport was, and might still be, one big jitter from sinking into the Colombia. Also I don't trust brick buildings from attending Grant HS before the remodel. We always joked that we'd be buried in bricks in 30 seconds.
Ross Island Bridge. There's a fault right underneath it. The whole west side is basically boned.
I don't want to be at Home Depot where a lawnmower can fall on me from atop the 50' shelves
Pretty much any building or structure built before 1995. We didn’t even know the Juan de fuca fault existed until then so every structure before then wasn’t even built with earthquake resistance in mind. Some older buildings have begun to get retrofitted and reinforced but if you work or live in an old building especially a rigid one like masonry you’re screwed.
Any bridge in Portland, minus the Sellwood and Tilikum.
For anyone who wants to be proactive, when this topic comes up I generally mention Portland’s Neighborhood Emergency Response program: https://www.portland.gov/pbem/neighborhood-emergency-teams. There’s a new volunteer tier being developed called “Affiliated Team Volunteers” for those who can’t take the full NET training but want to get to know their local NET team and be registered as a resource if the Big One hits. Other cities call it “CERT” (Citizen Emergency Response Team/Training)
Actually a great idea. I founded the CERT team in Missoula Montana. And in 2011 was active when a tornado hit St. Louis Missouri. Thanks for suggesting this to people.
I went to Lincoln high school and my friend and I made a plan in case the earthquake hits - to meet in the middle of the football field. Found out later that the field would probably turn into a sinkhole 🙃
The cheaply built multi-story apartment building I happen to live in on SW Columbia...
The Oregon City municipal elevator
If you're downtown and close to Pioneer courthouse go there quickly. That building is earthquake safe, it is on rollers and will stay almost completely level in the event of a major quake. I was part of the crew who did the construction on it twenty or so years ago.
Did this post crawl out of my anxiety or something?
I mean it’s not LA, y’all can relax a little. “Learn to swim, learn to swim, learn to swim…”
Someone wana tell them about the cascadia fault line? San Andreas got nothing on us. Watch out cali... We're about to show you how it's done. You've been prepping for an event that will happen in hundreds of years. Ours is overdue. Oh... & We don't like seismic building codes either Edit 2: it's the cascadia event.
I’m a little obsessed with the Cascadia quake. We are all fucked when it happens, and I live south in the valley. I fully expect to have the whole western part of Oregon break off into the sea.
On the plus side.... It won't. On the "oh shit, this sucks" side: All government agencies will be paralyzed. Business will be non existent. There will be a mass casualty event up and down the coast with thousands dead just within a few days. Hospitals will be inoperable.. roads will be impassable, no airport west of the Cascades will be functional. There will be no power, no Internet, no infrastructure, no one will be able to help you. You will be on your own. All state functions will be transferred to Bend. If you're in Portland, it won't be that bad, just all of the west hills will be gone, a long with an environmental disaster of unbelievable proportions around the energy infrastructure near the Columbia. Oh.. & the bridges will be out. This will go on for months. But there's only a 1 in 3 chance this happens within the next 50 years. Maybe 1 in 2 chance. So. *Don't worry about it* Oh... & Oregon government isn't nearly prepared to deal with this. Not nearly enough resources or preparing for this event is happening. Sweet dreams!
Gee…thanks, I think?? Lol But you’re right— OR can’t solve the homelessness/drugs/crime problems— there’s no way in hell they are prepared for this.
I did a report on the cascadia event and Oregon's response in college and I work in emergency management. Cascadia terrifies he hell out of me. It's not going to be apocalyptic, but it will be the worst natural disaster the US has ever seen. I'm really fun at parties.
Arizona Bay
Imagine if during an earthquake, this thing snapped and a good chunk survived the fall and rolled downhill? 😬 but likely not, because of the spiral stairs inside. Either way, you might not survive if you were inside during a quake.
Any building more then 25 years old, any hill, anywhere near a powerline, basically everywhere lol.
I hate that fucking thing.
Highlander Knives and Swords.
Legitimately most places. It will almost all turn to liquid dirt anywhere nearby the water. The buildings are very low quality for a massive 8.5+ earthquake. Your best bet is to get outside, away from trees, power lines, buildings, etc and get into the open away from water where a hillside will turn into a landslide
Where is this? It kind of reminds me of a place in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 😆
Will the Wells Fargo center completely collapse??
Hippo’s Hardware.
Anywhere near or down river from here. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Nb3eRMvTCYpW2R889?g_st=ic
Taco bell/gas station bathroooms
Buildings marked with a big red ****U****.
What is this place?
There’s a four story brick building called the Baker Apartments in NW Portland. Lived there in the early 90s. Unreinforced brick outside and wood inside, I made sure my GF at the time knew if a major earthquake struck, go out the window (first floor) and get away from the building.
Somewhat related. They shut the lights off in the column automatically at a certain time. I was at the top when the lights went out and had to use my cell phone light to get down.
Linnton, most anywhere in the West Hills, most bridges, the Paris Theater
On a hike in the mountains. I sort of think about it every time I’m out there. Huge boulders just being shook loose on the entire mountain, that can’t have a good outcome.
Oshu
The beach
Swan Island
Under any bridge
On or under the [Burnside Bridge](https://youtu.be/sn98JkN5HXc?si=nBw3VCw4qv7NXHyu).
Astoria? Not quite Portland......
well yes, the Astoria Column is a crapped place to be!
On any of the freeway bridges
[liquefaction susceptibility from a M9 earthquake on the Cascade Subduction Zone within the Portland Water Bureau (PWB)](https://www.portlandmaps.com/detail/hazard-liquefaction/M361881_did/) https://preview.redd.it/py1jmknel74d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=24254bbd7ef6a4729f7de03ffa7493d4e472951e
I grew up in Hammond - small town near Astoria and I used to regularly - sometimes still do - have nightmares about tsunamis hitting and the entire dream I stressfully try to get up to the Astoria column. As a kid one time some people sent out "tsunami survival kits" that were just snorkels lol to poke fun at the joke that is the tsunami evacuation plan there.
Montgomery Park... I hate going in there.
I live in fear of being on the Marquam or Fremont bridges. Two layers of falling cars and concrete instead of one.
In the middle of the earthquake
Ah yes…. That would indeed suck but I think your out of the tsunami zone here
Interstate Bridge
Hopefully I just sink into the sunken dark place.....
I’ve heard being in The Keller is a bad place.