Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
A 700-mile fault is locked, loaded, and overdue. Scientists now say there's a 37% chance the Cascadia Subduction Zone will snap by 2075—and when it does, it could reshape America’s West Coast overnight.
Credit: NOAA
If the CSZ ruptures, the land will drop eight feet instantly—then comes a 100-foot wall of ocean. Entire towns, cities, highways, and coastlines gone within minutes.
Ironically, the longer this quake holds off, the deadlier it becomes. Rising seas will stack devastation atop devastation, meaning 2100’s tsunami could be far worse than one tomorrow.
FEMA predicts 618,000 buildings destroyed, 5,800 killed by the quake alone, 8,000 more by the tsunami—and over $134 billion in damage. One shake, and the West Coast is in ruins.
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The land won’t bounce back after the wave recedes. Subsidence will lock in massive swaths of new flood zones, redrawing maps, displacing towns, and haunting coastlines for centuries.
The last quake struck 325 years ago. No warning, no survivors. British Columbia was erased in minutes. It's not folklore—it's geological memory, waiting to repeat.
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Beneath Oregon, Washington, and Northern California, stress is silently building. Plates are stuck, pressure is mounting, and when it breaks—it will be catastrophic.
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The wave won’t wait. Thirty minutes post-quake, a tsunami nearly 100 feet high will slam into the coastline. Evacuation time? Less than your average Netflix episode.
Scientists say the next Cascadia event could expand 100-year floodplains by 115 square miles. And in worst-case models, that area could double—turning current homes into future ruins.
Credit: NOAA