Understanding the True Risk... is Everything We prepare for emergencies - or don't - based on our perceived risk. Letters in response to Kathryn Schulz’s article about the Cascadia subduction zone and an earthquake that may devastate the Pacific Northwest (July 20, 2015). The Cascadia Subduction Zone could produce the largest earthquake the west coast has seen in decades. Leave it to The New Yorker to publish the definitive treatment of horrors bound to spring from a Northwest Cascadia subduction-zone earthquake and tsunami. Knowing will … It separates the Juan de Fuca and North America plates. Earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone have struck the Northwest offshore for at least 10,000 years. It separates the Juan de Fuca and North America plates. New Cascadia subduction zone earthquake study 'is worse news for Portland northward to Seattle' Updated Jan 29, 2019; Posted Jul 27, 2018 A … A local emergency manager's response to recent articles about Cascadia. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a more than 600-mile fault located 70-100 miles off the West coast of North America. New Juan de Fuca plate is created offshore along the Juan de Fuca Ridge.. That’s the very big one. It's where North America's continental shelf meets the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, which has, for centuries, compressed the shelf eastward and upward, a few millimeters every year. The most recent big Cascadia earthquake occurred on January 26, 1700, dated by accounts from Japan of an orphan tsunami generated by a Cascadia earthquake and recorded after the wave crossed the Pacific Ocean. I'm hoping to move to the Pacific Northwest and had decided on Bainbridge Island until I read that it was located smack in the Cascadia Subduction zone. The Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) is a 1,000 km (620 mi) long dipping fault that stretches from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino in northern California. The main purpose of this website is to help ensure you understand just how likely we are to experience a major earthquake in the PNW. The last time it went off was nearly 320 years ago. Cascadia subduction zone temblor will crush Pacific Northwest: 'New Yorker' By Jenn Gidman , Newser Staff Posted Jul 14, 2015 12:40 PM CDT Along North America's Pacific Northwest coast lies the Cascadia fault, also known as the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ). The Cascadia Subduction Zone has remained locked, loaded, and quiet despite all this tumult elsewhere in the world. Answer 1 of 11: At the risk of being considered a nut I'm posting this request for information. The Cascadia subduction zone runs from Cape Mendocino, California, to Vancouver Island, Canada.