A story in The New Yorker about the Northwest’s coming megaquake and tsunami helped inspire the White House to plan a seismic resilience summit. For decades, geologists, emergency managers and media in the Pacific Northwest have been warning that the region will someday be slammed by a megaquake and tsunami that could be the country’s worst natural disaster. But it took an East Coast magazine to finally elevate the issue onto the White House agenda.
Inspired in large part by an article in The New Yorker in the summer, the Obama administration is hosting an Earthquake Resilience Summit on Tuesday — and is expected to underscore its support for an earthquake early warning system on the West Coast. It’s not clear whether that support will come with additional federal money, but foundations and some Northwest businesses will announce contributions to a warning system. FULL REPORT
