Are there any Mutual Assistance Groups that meet up in the BC Lower Mainland? I would love to meet with some like minded people and develop new friendships.

Or is there any interest in starting one? I understand that some people may be worried about opsec and are unsure about speaking up but how else can we find each other?

Is this a completely no go zone when it comes to preparing for the big one?

Amidst all of the scare going around about the “big one” creeping around the corner, it has me thinking of some loved ones I have living on Whidbey Island. I’ve that Seattle would fall, and coastal cities would drown. Coastal cities would need to seek high ground immediately to prepare for the aftershock tsunami. What does that say about the islands in the Puget Sound? Are they protected or will they completely be wiped? I can’t seem to find much about this online.

The rumblings about Mt Adams earthquakes are reminding me that while we all mostly focus on “the big one”, regional ashfall from a large volcanic eruption is a serious possibility. I’m a prepping newbie and wasn’t alive for St Helens. What would be useful for a blanket of ash?

Here’s what I thought of so far: -water: how many days worth? I don’t know how much or for how long municipal water systems might be contaminated by significant ashfall. -car: try to get it under cover in garage before the ash falls if possible. Spare air filter on hand + knowledge to install. -masks: couple extra N95s on hand for our household of 2 -home: anything to have on hand to seal doorways, vents, etc? Admittedly I don’t really understand how “open” homes are to this kind of particulate.

I am new to the area and unfortunately I've recently learned about "the big one" and it's living rent free in my head. I've always had intense anxiety about natural disasters and although it's a hot topic in therapy, it's really hard to shake the thoughts. I know the statistics and that it's more likely to not happen. my brain doesn't care about that logic.I hate living my life in fear and usually I'm able to release anxieties and move on with life. I keep seeing people talk daily about the sulfur smell and smaller quakes popping up and it's back to square one. Caught in between "stop looking for issues" and wanting to be mentally prepared if it does happen.

I'm from the east coast, so I have quite a bit of experience with hurricanes, but not so much earthquakes or tsunamis. I live on base in Silverdale and we are 2 miles from the water and only 16 feet above sea level. Aside from having my emergency supply ready (even though it'll likely wash away in the tsunami) is there even any chance that I'm making it out of this or do I just accept my fate? We'd absolutely be battered by the tsunami and I'm not sure if it's even survivable.

Greetings! I hope everyone is enjoying these early days of fall. I’m a researcher beginning long-term work on independence movements in the Pacific Northwest, and as part of this research am also hoping to connect with local prepping communities. I've reached out to a few directly, but thought I might also post a message on this sub to see if anyone might be open to a casual conversation (via Reddit, phone, Zoom, or any other platform), to talk about how you approach prepping personally, and the broader preparedness scene in Cascadia, as I work to develop this project. Thanks so much for your time and consideration!

Hello everyone. I will be hiking the coastal Juan De Fuca trail this year but i'm pretty spooked about the big one. I read in some articles like the one linked below that there are two to three weeks of tremors every 14-16 ish months that build pressure on the plates and that these brief events present a more likely time that the megaquake could occur. I'd like to know when this event last took place. Would anyone happen to know, or know where I could find this information and how to read the data? I was looking at the pnsn website and couldn't really make sense of it/what to look for.

https://www.washington.edu/news/2009/12/15/tremors-between-slip-events-more-evidence-of-great-quake-danger-to-seattle/

I know the odds say it probably won't hapen in any of our lifetimes, but I like to be safe. What have you done to prepare in case it does happen? I've been watching a lot of videos of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami and I can't help but think that might happen here in my lifetime

Just heard about this, not sure if it's been shared yet, but scientists have finally mapped the Cascadian fault line.

Here's one of a few articles written about it: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/earthquake-tsunami-threat-west-coast-underwater-fault-map-rcna156023

I'm not sure if I'm relieved or even more wary now that they know that portions of the fault line could release independent of each other. Can you image one portion going off, causing so much damage that it costs billions to rebuild, to have it go off again in another 50, 100 years?

Seismology is so cool, but dang if it doesn't put the fear of your own mortality into you.

My get home bag is aging. Been carrying it around for years. The only thing I have ever found useful was the medical supplies, and now that my kids are grown and I am disabled I don’t get much use of that ether. Has anyone ever needed their get home bag or go bag ? What was your circumstances?

In particular, those of us who live in and around Portland. None of the bridges over the Willamette River are fully rated to survive a 9.0 earthquake. Yes, I know about the new Selwood bridge and the Tilikum Crossing. But only their main spans are rated to survive, the approach ramps are not.

So imagine the Willamette River blocked by fallen bridges. And think of the cleanup effort it will require.

I guess what I'm saying is that, in Baltimore, there is an ongoing example of what it takes to clean up a fallen bridge and the impacts it causes. It's a situation worth monitoring.

I love canning and preserving, but I worry that it will all be wasted if the earthquake just rattles all the jars to pieces. Have any of you come up with a good solution?

I live in Seattle proper and don’t have a ton of extra space, but years ago I had some extra space in my garage so I got a 275 Gallon IBC tote to store water in case of earthquake.

Now I want to move my water heater out of another room into this space and will need to forgo the IBC tote, which raises the question of how to store emergency water.

Two ideas would be to:

• get a taller narrower tank like this that can go next to my water heater: https://www.watersupplytanks.com/products/260-gallon-water-storage-tank-by-surewater-emergency-water-tank-with-spigot-for-emergency-disaster-preparedness
• get a second water heater and use it both as additional hot water capacity as well as another tank of potable water that could be utilized in case of emergency.

What are the cons of using a hot water tank as emergency water storage?

I've heard winter will be pretty gross this year. I'm getting ready by having my chimney swept and inspected, stocking up on non-perishable foods and putting away money for a new generator.

In the video, they mention it at about at the two-minute mark.

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/16/mourning-thousands-miles-away-family-remembers-beloved-sister-killed-lahaina-fire/

Thinking on camping around Kalaloch, but I've been reading about the tsunami stuff and it's been making me feel pretty concerned in the event of a megaquake.

I've looked at the evacuation routes, for the most part it looks like you'd just be running into the woods and uphill. It's really been making me anxious before my trip to the point of me considering not going. What should I do?

Also, how much time do you get before the waves hit in the event of an M9? And how long would it feasibly take to get to somewhere safe around Kalaloch?

Do folks here camp out on the coast? Not sure if I'm just being paranoid.

I’m very sorry for posting an anxiety post here when it’s probably not a good use of this space.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been doing prepping. Doing everything I should have done long ago and making sure I know what to do in the case of the big one. I also plan to be more involved with the shakeout this Oct.

The thing is I can’t relax at all, and prepping is honestly overwhelming. I know what I need and I’m slowly gathering supplies by following the prep in a year guide. But the apartment I live in is not modern (1900, with an overhang with two thin wooden pillars holding the backside) and I can’t afford to move to a new building; my wife is not on board with my prepping; and I don’t have space for all the food and water we need if/when it happens. We also walk everywhere (no car) and live in downtown Tacoma, WA.

I know I can’t ask for reassurances because that’s hiding from facts (though yes, I’m talking to a specialist about my anxiety now), yet is there anything that can help me relax? I know chances are unlikely (but possible) but it really feels like any second now to me and I know very well I can’t live in fear.

I should trust my instincts because I did the right thing without thinking back in 2001. I think a lack of trust in this building is part of it?

You can't prep unless you know what you're prepping for.

For many of us in western PNW cities, the biggest disaster we know will happen eventually is a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and the associated tsunami and landslides. Or if you're in Seattle, a large Seattle fault earthquake, which is less likely but would be more damaging locally.

What assumptions do you make in order to focus and simplify your prep?

Here are some of mine:

• I'm in the middle of Seattle, so bugging out would just take me further away from aid. My best plan for survival is to shelter in place.
  • Figuring out what to do if I'm at work (in Redmond) when it hits is a tough choice. Getting home by car would likely be impossible; the most reliable way would be to walk all the way around Lake Washington, which takes 10 hours minimum. Access to aid would probably be about the same in both places, but you'd have hundreds of office workers in the building and no food there, so it's probably worth it to trek home.
• Getting in or out of Seattle will likely be nearly impossible anyway, due to damaged bridges and roads. Airports and seaports will also be closed due to damage. If runways aren't damaged too badly, we may have at least one airfield open within a week, but only emergency responders will be permitted to use it.
• However, that doesn't mean aid won't reach us. With the help of the military, there are many ways to get supplies in. For the most urgent stuff, they can set up depots relatively nearby (e.g. in undamaged areas east of the Cascades) and airlift by helicopter. Larger supply drops can be done by parachute from cargo aircraft; airfields that aren't in use for air traffic would be perfect as drop zones and depots. Road travel will probably be possible if they can find a route, but it will probably be circuitous and congested, and not ideal for extended use by heavy vehicles. Longer-term, they can park cargo ships in the Puget Sound and ferry cargo to shore.
• That being the case, I only expect to need 1-2 weeks of food before supplies start coming in. I keep my pantry reasonably stocked. Before grocery stores even have a chance to implement a response to ration and give away their food (without power, all that refrigerated food is use-it-or-lose-it anyway... not that refrigerated food is the best thing to grab) they'll likely be mobbed and looted, and I have no qualms about doing so myself.
• Water is a much bigger problem; transporting it as cargo is very prohibitive. Water infrastructure will almost certainly be damaged, and I expect I'll have to go at least 1 month without resupplies of fresh water.
• Power will almost certainly go out, and repairs will take a long time because of the extent of damage and because damaged roads will make it hard for crews to get around. I'm in the middle of the city, though, so I expect it will be no more than a few days before my neighborhood or adjacent ones have power.
• Natural gas will also go out. This will be more similar to water, that it may take a month or more to repair. I have multiple sources for heating (hydronic radiant floors heated by gas, and mini-split heat pumps) and cooking (gas range, electric induction burner, and propane grill if I need to), so I only need to last a few days until power is restored.
• Gasoline will not be available to the public for at least a month. They'll likely bring some in by land or sea before that, but it will be limited to emergency responders and prioritized essential services only.
• Communication will be difficult. Cell phone service may or may not survive the initial disaster, and will die within a few hours as generators run out of fuel. Some people's landline Internet may survive (until they or their provider lose power), but anyone who loses it will be out for a month or more. (It will be interesting to see how self-healing the Internet really is as major network exchanges and data centers in the PNW go dark over the course of a day. Too bad I won't be able to hear the results until long after the fact.) Even local radio and TV will probably go dark for a couple of days until power is restored. Until then, I expect to send someone from our household once or twice a day to neighborhood hubs to gather news.
• Fire fighting will be unavailable for at least a few days. :-( In the immediate aftermath, they will be busy with bigger problems than a house fire. For the next few days or even weeks, they might be unable to reach me due to road damage, and in any case I'd have no way of calling for help without phone service.
• Hospitals and urgent care centers will be overwhelmed for at least a few days. Initially there will be a surge in urgent cases of injuries. Generators will only keep essential services like ICUs running; everything else will have to make do with field conditions for a couple of days. If we have a critical injury, we'll have to stabilize it and figure out how to hobble to an ER (car, bike, shopping cart, walking, etc.). For anything less urgent, even up to a minor broken bone, I expect we'd be rejected in triage, so we'd do our best to dress it at home and wait a few days before seeking treatment. (At least there'd be a chance of getting a badass scar out of it.)

If you're in major city or suburb, are your assumptions similar?

If you're in a small town or rural area, what assumptions are you making, and how does it affect your prep?

(edit: formatting)