to high ground before the wave arrives. Injuries, reorientation, and the search for friends and loved ones will make the evacuation period even narrower. This does not take into account everyone who is disabled, or of old age. Roads will be destroyed, so people will have to go on foot, but many will not know where to go. Thousands of confused tourists visit every year in addition to those in beach towns who have nowhere to go. Scientific simulations have predicted that the wave will range from 20 to 100 feet, but it will vary within the different coastal regions. Still, a tsunami is not simply a massive crested wave, it is as if the entire ocean has risen up. As it rushes in, it will pick up everything in its path including trucks, boats, and pieces of glass and buildings. As if the idea of an entire town submerged under water is not enough, the wave can travel 10 miles inland at 10-20 miles per hour, depending on the shape of the land. FEMA estimates that it will cause between 13,000 deaths and 27,000 injuries. This number projects that the disaster will take place during the day in February, but if it were to take place in the summer and at night, then these numbers would be off by a tremendous margin.
The full scale of the damage will range around 100,000 miles. Search and
rescue operations will be working on the coast and in the ocean everywhere
from California to Canada. It is projected that it will take a month to one year to restore drinking water, 18 months to restore hospitals and doctors' offices,
and one to three months to restore
electricity. None of these numbers
apply to the zone hit by the tsunami. Unfortunately, it is expected that the area will never be the same, and because of the terrible conditions, most people will move away, causing the economy to collapse. If people are able to move away, they should move now.
Unlike politics and pollution, there is little anyone can do to prevent the occurrence of an earthquake. However, if people do not start preparing for the big one now, the devastation will be significantly worse than it needs to be. Tectonic plate movement and earthquakes are a part of living on earth, and people need to prepare. It is a common approach to deal with a problem when it arrives, but that will only make it much worse. Although the level of damage will depend on how ready people are, the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake is inevitable. The human race can't outrun a looming earthquake, just like people can't outrun a tsunami.
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