A 6.0 magnitude earthquake shook northern San Francisco on Aug. 24, injuring dozens and causing widespread power failure. This was the area’s largest earthquake in 25 years.

Every year, natural disasters ravage and decimate thousands of homes, claiming countless lives and leaving mass destruction in their wake. And every year, lives could be saved if people considered the dangers of their region before living there.

Locally, we are lucky. According to an Aug. 16, 2013 article by The Atlantic, Syracuse is ranked the No. 1 safest city from natural disasters in the U.S. Still, the majority of graduates move all over the country, mostly unaware of the potential for natural disasters.

On the other side of the country, things are much different. The ring of fire, a U-shaped congregation of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs and plate movements spanning from Eastern Europe down the West Coast, leaves major cities such as Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles at its mercy. There are already thousands of earthquakes each year in this area, most of them small and harmless, yet there is potential for something much bigger.

Swallowing Seattle from the south, Mt. Rainer, the world’s largest active volcano, looms large. And if that was not enough, it is rotting from within. The most risk is not from volcanic lava. At any moment, an earthquake could trigger an eruption, creating what is known as a lahar flow, a destructive mudflow down the slopes of the volcano. According to an article by nationalatlas.gov, lahar flows occur every 500–1000 years, and the last lahar flow from Mt. Ranier was over 600 years ago. Scientists are in a grave consensus that it is not a matter of if, but rather of when for the next great lahar to flow through western Washington.

If this were to happen, it would take no more than a few hours for these deadly flows to reach the city of Seattle. Warning systems are being put into place, hoping that given a few hours warning, a lucky few will be able to evacuate to safety. Still, there is scientific consensus that thousands of lives would be lost, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in 2013.

Even with overwhelming evidence, there is no widespread migration out of the danger zone. People would rather roll the dice, hoping that it will not happen in their lifetime or avoid inconvenience, thinking they still have time.

Though there is the potential for extreme natural disasters along the East Coast and the Midwest, through hurricanes and tornados, respectively, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions come with little to no warning and can be much more severe.

It’s easy to fall into a false sense of security, but the recent earthquake in San Francisco is a sobering reminder of the damage that natural disasters can do in populated areas.

There likely won’t be a massive migration eastward from the West Coast, but those moving to these disaster-prone areas should seriously consider the risks before making that decision.

Azor Cole is a junior public relations major and geography minor. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at azcole@syr.edu.

 

Published on September 3, 2014 at 12:09 am