Life in the Zone
We all live in a tsunami zone
For reasons I may go into in the future, I recently spent a long weekend on the north Oregon Coast in a town called Seaside. Appropriately named, much of this city is directly behind the beach with no bay or harbor to shield it from the Pacific Ocean waves.
About 70 miles west of where I was standing when I took these pictures is the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 700-mile fault that runs from northern California up to British Columbia. It is where the North American plate is pushing westward over the Juan de Fuca plate. This type of plate interaction produced the Indonesia (2004) and Tohoku (2011) earthquakes and tsunami. The fault mechanics of these subduction zone earthquakes (each magnitude 9.1) are different from the San Andreas strike-slip fault that produced the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (magnitude 7.9). They were approximately 16x larger in magnitude. Awareness of the risk of a giant earthquake on this Pacific Northwest “megathrust” fault began in the early 1980s, remained debated until 2012, and is now accepted.
Accepted it may be, but how well is this information internalized? How aware and prepared are people living in or visiting coastal communities like Seaside? I was there to participate in a large gathering (approximately 1,500 people). Not once during that event was there an announcement made, nor was there information posted, about what to do if an earthquake were to occur.
“Recent” discoveries
It isn’t a matter of “if” but “when.” Researchers have documented a history of large quakes in this region, with a frequency suggesting that we’re “due” for the next one.
“The best available evidence indicates that these earthquakes occur, on average, every 500 to 600 years.” Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup
Thanks to a remarkable story of scientific inquiry at its best, the last magnitude 9 quake in the Pacific Northwest has been dated to 1700. January 26th at approximately 9 pm PST, to be exact (source). This is almost 100 years before the first Europeans settled in the region. No written records exist of the event. There are, however, written records in Japan which recorded an “orphan tsunami” - a tsuanmi that wasn’t preceeded by an earthquake (see “The Orphan Tsunami of 1700: Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America” free pdf and Amazon). There’s also evidence in the oral history traditions of the people then living in the coastal areas.
When it happens
As severe as the damage from a magnitude 9 earthquake itself will be, it is the resulting tsunami that will cause the most deaths and destruction. So imagine that you’re on the beach when the quake begins, and start your timer -
… about 15-20 minutes later, the leading edge of the wave will hit the beach.
At 25 minutes the water will flood over the promenade and start pouring down the city streets.
At about that same time, a massive cresting foaming breaker, about a mile out will be racing in. That's the crest of the tsunami.
When it comes ashore, it will be between 25 to 55 feet above the sand, possibly even higher.
"It will come up and over everything and up into the third and fourth floors of some of these motels," [Tom] Horning explained.
Do you know where to go and how to get there? Your evacuation will require you reach high ground, a little more than a mile inland. Don’t think of driving there. The roads are likely to be jammed with debris and other vehicles. You’ll need to walk, jog or run (depending on where you’re starting from and how long after the event started).
There are tsunami sirens “that tower over the beach like something out of the Jetsons”1.
“Sure, a few might remain upright and functional after the quake. But don’t count on it. ‘Don’t be waiting for a siren or an emergency manager to come and take you by the hand,’ [Patrick] Corcoran said. ‘Be your own Jesus.’”
Full-Rip 9.0: The Next Big Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest
Please excuse the irreverence. The point is that it’s on each of us to know what to do and to act accordingly when the time comes. Did I know where I needed to go, how long that would take? Could I walk, jog or run fast enough to get there in time?
The inscription at the bottom of the monument reads:
Memorial Stone of the Tsunami! Just run. Run Uphill! Don’t worry about the others. Save yourself first. And tell the future generations that a Tsunami once reached this point. And that those who survived were those who ran. Uphill. So run! Run uphill!
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed my visit to Seaside. It’s a lovely city and its beach is unlike others in Oregon. But I kept thinking about the possibility…
An even bigger tsunami
And then I began to think about a metaphorical tsunami. One that isn’t confined to a specific region of the planet. This one threatens us all - both directly and indirectly. It’s the tsunami of metabolic illness. Chronic and mental illnesses are engulfing humanity. Don’t count on the numerous public health authorities who are tasked with addressing this crisis. Evacuation routes have been posted - effective lifestyle interventions have been well-documented. "Just run. Run Uphill! Don’t worry about the others. Save yourself first. And tell the future generations..."
No one's coming.
Don't outsource your health.
I do not remember when I first met Georgia Ede. It was long ago that she became one of the first “SodSisters” - members of my brain trust that also includes Dr. Adele Hite and Amber O’Hearn. I highly recommend Dr. Ede’s new book “Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind: A Powerful Plan to Improve Mood, Overcome Anxiety, and Protect Memory for a Lifetime of Optimal Mental Health” (US Amazon link).
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the vicious cycle of climbing insulin levels and worsening insulin resistance eventually damages your metabolism to the degree that even persistently high levels of insulin can’t bring your blood glucose back down to normal—not even after fasting all night long. As mentioned, when your fasting blood glucose rises above 125 mg/dl, you officially have type 2 diabetes.
Insulin resistance is sometimes called prediabetes because every year, 10 percent of people with insulin resistance will progress to type 2 diabetes if they don’t change course10—but type 2 diabetes is just the tip of the iceberg, because persistently high insulin levels and insulin resistance secretly set the stage for most of the diseases we dread. It would therefore be just as accurate to think of insulin resistance as “pre-fatty liver,” “pre-obesity,” or “pre-heart attack.”
Georgia Ede, MD
So, treat the signs of insulin resistance like an earthquake at the Oregon coast. Don’t wait to be told. Head for high ground and safety!
What are those signs? And just how large is this tsunami? Those will be the subjects of my next posts.
Be well.
Doughton, Sandi. Full-Rip 9.0: The Next Big Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest . Sasquatch Books. Kindle Edition.
Interesting read! Thank you for sharing!