The threat a massive tsunami hitting the Pacific Northwest has concerned scientists for years. Experts say an event of this kind occurs roughly every 400-600 years, and the area is overdue a similar quake that could leave thousands dead or displaced. Now states such as California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska are looking to both the past and the future to prepare for a tsunami on the US Pacific coastline.
Plans for managing tsunami risk on the West Coast are still evolving, according scientists speaking at the Seismological Society of America’s (SSA) 2016 Annual Meeting, held April 20-22 in Reno, Nevada.
Meanwhile, geologists are searching for evidence of past tsunamis in the region to help them refine their estimates of tsunami risk. There is, for instance, the evidence for frequent and large earthquakes and tsunamis occurring within the past 2,000 years in parts of the Eastern Aleutian Islands. READ MORE
