Talk of the Cascadia subduction zone blew up local media and filled up social media pages. According to the New Yorker article, we live in the most dangerous (and beautiful) part of the U.S. We’re probably all going to die in the world’s most giant earthquake, or at least that is what I took away from the news I read.
Since then, reality and sanity has come back to roost. Experts are pointing out that when the article said “everything west of I-5 will be toast,” the article was talking about 1) the absolute worst case, 1:5000 chance, of the entire subduction zone releasing at once; and 2) “toast” was referring to infrastructure, not human life or the entire continental shelf breaking away and floating out to sea.
Honestly, I like reading somewhat sensational articles like this for the same reason that I enjoyed the “Worst Case Scenario” series of books. I believe in the Boy Scout’s motto “be prepared,” and while I cannot go to an actual disaster zone to practice my survival skills, thinking about what I would do in a given situation is the next best thing.
I think the hardware industry also needs to think about natural disaster scenarios with a “be prepared” mindset as well. We already have panic and fire safety codes in place to allow people to exit to safety in case of a situation that we all hope will never occur in one of our own buildings. Expanding our mindset to include “what would we do in case of earthquake/tsunami?” can only serve to improve our industry.
