Major quake off coast of Japan tonight, and a couple others too in South Asia.

Got me thinking, with the exception of the '01 Seattle quake, the west coast seems to be overdue.

Impossible to predict, but who's next? They've been saying the San Andreas is about to go for the last 20 years. LA has quake faults right under downtown. Portland has faults too.

I think we need to face reality...the odds are something major will happen on the west coast in the next decade. Are we prepared?

I have earthquake insurance. It never seemed silly to me to have it.

Sure, I have to pay the first 50K of any repairs - but I'll take that.

The predictions I've heard: Seattle will suffer a big quake this year or next. One predictor talked about quakes starting in or near the panhandle of Alaska and moving down the coast to Seattle. This would not be one quake.

Craig, those type of stories are not based on any science that I've seen. From what I have read, quakes don't start and move.

There was a movie a couple of years ago that suggested this could happen, but there is no scientific proof that quakes are nothing more than individual events.

Magnitude 7.1, One Dead:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4659188.html

The 1989 Loma Prieta Quake was predicted by someone I believe at the USGS. The USGS never admitted to it and the person later left. I can't remember his name.

Good site for looking at earthquakes.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/

Click on the area you want and keep clicking until you get to the earthquake you want. The bigger the square, the stronger the quake was. The color of the square determines how recent it was.

The rest is explained on the site.

Enjoy!

MAN! California sure looks active along with Alaska.

earthquake insurance here too. I understand farmers no longer write it up for my area if you're a new customer.

This is a great link to go along with Bill's. Feel something? Have the pets or livestock been going a little nuts? You can check almost instantly. It is updated within five minutes or so of a local quake: http://www.pnsn.org/recenteqs/latest.htm

It has vividly illustrated over the last few years why I should never buy a home in Maupin.

Here is another fine source of information:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Publications/hazards_reports.html

Among many highlights, you can read all about "the bulge" in the Three Sisters area.

Shawn David Morton was on Coast to Coast AM and predicted a quake on a fault that moves from the Alaska area down to just below Seattle, and that it would happen Nov or Dec.

Some of his other predictions:

Cheney will step down/resign and the new VP will be groomed to be the eventual successor to Bush and will win the election unfortunetely

US military will create an international incident to get us into Iran and that is starting to happen right now he predicted April 7th.

And then the wild one is that Armegeddon has begun and its a battle between three factions one being the US/Clintons/Bushes/Caryle Group, another being the controlling interests in Asian financial markets who are surprisingly all Anglo, and a faction that includes The Bilderberg Group.

http://www.delphiassociates.org/

Out of curiosity, before we take Mr. Morton's predictions seriously, what has his average been in the past? Has he been right in his past predictions more than 50% of the time? If not, then flipping a coin is more accurate than listening to him.

Andrew

Shawn David Morton accuracy rate is pretty high although it's not mentioned in a percentage rate on the web.

He predicted the last stock market slide and says there will be another which will be bigger. I think he mentioned May? This will be an 800 point decline but the market will recover and go even higher.

Then in November there will be a market collapse with Europe taking America's place as the new Super Power in the world.

Did he say why these things would happen when they happen? Or is it that he just "sees" it happening then?

Basically, he claims to be a prophet over, say, being an analyist?

As an Art Bell listener for years, you wouldn't believe some of the predictions by various guests that never came true over the years. I call BS! I remember a prediction of world economic collapse in the year 2000, made in '98.

Which stock market slide did he predict? Yeah, I would love to see his batting average - that's all that really matters. I can predict that the stock market will crash every day and eventually, I'll be right...

Andrew

"picking the hits and ignoring the misses" -- a sure fire way to make suckers out of listeners.

We are (historically) due for a big one in the PNW, I won't be surprised when it happens.

Love,

Mrs. Former-USGS-who-wouldn't-even-consider-being-a-homeowner-without-EQ-insurance (but who still needs to bolt/strap stuff down in her own house)

P.S. Without fail, I took calls AFTER every quake, "I predicted this would happen blah blah blah"

My stock answer: "Honey, I really need you to call us BEFORE it happens"

(Of course I had a few regulars of those, too, but they never got it quite right, or even close, actually.

"As an Art Bell listener for years, you wouldn't believe some of the predictions by various guests that never came true over the years."

Agreed!

In my earlier post I couldn't come up with an accuracy rate for Sean David Morton because his first name was misspelled. His accuracy rate on websites runs at 80%, 85% & 90%.

Sean would be the first to say he's been wrong on predictions. Infact he jokes about how bad he's been in predicting sports outcomes.

What he's good at is predicting the stock market. His Delphi Associates Newletter is said to be read by movers & shakers in the market. You can read more about Sean at the website:

http://www.delphiassociates.org/

I know I have quite a few faults myself.......unfortuately as easy as it might seem I can't just shake them off!! ;o)

*ba-da-da-tssssssschhhhhhh*

Last major quakes that effected densely populated areas on the west coast:

Seattle-Nisqually (Feb 01)
Los Angeles-Northridge (Jan 94)
San Francisco-Loma Prieta (Oct 89)

Odds would seem to be with S.F., but Mother Nature doesn't play the ponies!

Motozak will be here all week folks.

Coast To Coast AM just played a tape of Sean David Morton on the program earlier this month predicting a 7.0 Japanese quake in March or April of this year. The Japan Quake of March 24th came in at 7.1, not a bad prediction I'd say.

Sean was on live Monday night. He says the Seattle quake will be about 60 miles north, almost in British Columbia.

The stock market will have a big dip between May 15th & 30th, then rebound up high for the last time before November, with a major shift in the world market coming when foreign counties like China take their money out of the U.S. market, causing an American market collapse in November.

Safeco won't write earthquake policies anymore, which is what prompted me to ditch them and go with Liberty Mutual.

"The stock market will have a big dip between May 15th & 30th, then rebound up high for the last time before November, with a major shift in the world market coming when foreign counties like China take their money out of the U.S. market, causing an American market collapse in November."

Uhh, in other words it will be like the mid-1990s all over again, right?

No! It'll be like "The Dark Ages" again. Remember them?

7.6 Quake off The Solomon Islands with Pacific Tsunami. This from CBS News:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/world/main2635712.shtml

The earthquake has now been upgraded to 8.1 and reports of local damage and casualties are still coming in.

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/index.php

There's a tsunami warning in effect for the Hawaiian islands...

5.4 Quake in Japan:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070416a1.html

My husband found something about Oregon and Canada coming closer together and squishing Washington which is why Washington gets more quakes than Oregon.

Washington looks like its coming apart with all those loose pieces off the coast as Oregon and Canada work on changing the US/Canadian border.

Yes, Washington will be squished out of existence!

Finally, a much quicker trip to B.C. for Portlanders.