Here's the facts, there have only been three significant quakes in the last century. These were in 1949, 1965 and then the most recent in 2001. All of them were deep inter-plate earthquakes in the 6 magnitude range. These in themselves were not big. There have been a few other 5.0 or less shakers in the region, but these in general, were felt with little damage. There was a 5.0 Duvall Quake some years back that did about a million dollars damage to one of the electrical substations in the region.
The challenge is that in this one building owners opinion is that his building has survived major quakes. In reality there hasn't been a "Big one" for at least 500 years out on the coast and the Seattle Fault ruptured around 1,000 plus years ago. Those were "BIG Events."
People think because they have felt the ground move beneath their feet that they have survived earthquakes. It is like saying because you've gone through some terrible thunderstorms that you have survived a hurricane. This perception at some point in the future will be fatal to people and property. Owners don't choose to use seismic mitigation because they don't perceive the threat. I equate it to a three year old walking along a cliff. They have no sense of the danger that is only a few feet away. They will blissfully play and chase a ball right to the edge.
Our challenge then is trying to get our message through to people. Using the windows of opportunity that pop-up from time to time in the form of events that happen elsewhere to try and get people's attention. The problem with a place like Haiti, Chile or even New Zealand is that they are far away. The further the distance from where they live, the less they feel the danger and having an event in a third world country also doesn't aid in getting people's attention to the hazards right in their own backyard. It will take a quake in the United States to really get people thinking about their own vulnerabilities.
Carol Dunn shared the link to the King 5 TV story.
