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| Great White North |
| B.C. put on alert for huge quake (U.S. alert, if any, is muted?) |
| 2007-02-04 |
| Scientists have alerted British Columbia's emergency-planning department to the possibility of a catastrophic earthquake striking the province's southwest coast next week. While the probability of a quake is still low, rapid strides in earthquake detection have given federal scientists with the Pacific Geoscience Centre on Vancouver Island greater confidence in their ability to predict when and where one will occur. Garry Rogers, a seismologist at the centre, compared the current earthquake odds to the dangers of driving a car. “Everyone drives their car every day, and the probability of getting in a car accident is small,” Dr. Rogers said. But during rush hour, the probability of getting into an accident is much higher. “Well, Vancouver Island is now driving in rush hour.” What prompted the alert was a series of imperceptible tremors emanating from deep beneath the ocean, which scientists now recognize as ominous warnings that the earth is on the move again off Vancouver Island. They now estimate the long-awaited giant quake will hit closer to the island's western shoreline than previously thought. The tremors occurred on what is known as the Cascadia subduction zone, which lies beneath the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast and runs from Vancouver Island to Northern California. The rumblings began last week near Puget Sound near Seattle and made their way north to Vancouver Island in recent days. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #4 I am a Masshole. My parents live on Vancouver Island, and they are quite tuned in to this. The Boston Globe and local NPahhh affiliates are silent. Rantburg, however .... |
| Posted by: Red Lief 2007-02-04 23:34 |
| #3 This is just great! With 3 major TV networks in Seattle, I have to read Rantburg to find out that Vancouver Island, about 10 miles from me, as the crow flies (sitting on the western side of Whidbey Island, looking at the glow of Victorias's lights right now), is gonna do some shaking, and we in the US will feel nothing. If anything happens, I'll let you know. Mrs. Ret, works at NASWI hospital, and if something does happen, she will probably be hip deep in casualties. Could get interesting. |
| Posted by: USN, ret. 2007-02-04 23:24 |
| #2 Guam's K57 Radio was the only local Media to publicly announce our recent 2.0'er - for days before, there were minutae, barely feelable tremors-shakes, oft several times a day, culmin in the 2.0. Hopefully, we're done for awhile. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-02-04 23:06 |
| #1 I've contacted some friends who live just South of Seattle, and they've neither seen nor heard any advisories. Wouldn't want any Rantburgers to be rockin' and rollin' unexpectedly. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-02-04 15:37 |