Gov. Ted Kulongoski has declared April “Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Month,” dedicating the month to heightened awareness and preparedness for disasters that could affect Oregon and the surrounding region sometime in the
foreseeable future.
The publicity is welcome news to those who make a living researching and preparing for earthquakes in the area, such as Andre Le Duc, director of the University’s Emergency Management Program.
“I take this very seriously,” Le Duc said. “Having a basic understanding of procedure in the instance of an earthquake is key.”
He warned that a major earthquake in the Northwest “is not a matter of if, but a matter of when.”
Le Duc also works with Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (CREW), a partnership of public and private organizations dedicated to preparing the Cascadia region for earthquakes.
Southwestern British Columbia, western Oregon and Washington, and northwestern California are all part of the broader area known as Cascadia, a region periodically affected by different types of earthquakes. A document released by CREW titled “Cascadia
Subduction Zone Earthquakes: A magnitude 9.0 earthquake scenario” predicts the many ways in which a magnitude 9 earthquake would affect the cities along the Cascadia fault line.
According to the document, Oregon rests near the edge of the Cascadia subduction zone, where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, which makes up the seabed of the Pacific Ocean, is being driven underneath the North American tectonic plate, which makes up the continental shelf that the Northwest rests atop. This meeting of tectonic plates has created an 800-mile-long earthquake fault line called the Cascadia subduction zone.
Earthquakes caused by subduction zones are historically the most powerful and violent types of quakes.
“The big subduction zone earthquake can cause serious problems for people,” University geology professor Gene Humphreys said.
Humphreys also said the next major subduction zone earthquake could come soon, in geological terms. The last recorded one occurred 300 years ago, and they recur on average every 400 years.
“As far as we can tell, the last one ruptured the entire subduction zone: a level nine that ruptured the entire stretch from Eureka, Calif.,
to Vancouver, B.C,” Humphreys said.
Le Duc and the campus Emergency Management Program will use the month to hand out fliers with basic earthquake procedures, stage practice evacuations in several campus buildings, and work to improve the school’s public service announcement messaging. He also said a comprehensive “natural hazard mitigation plan” is being put together by CREW, and he hopes to have it finished by the summer.
For the time being, Le Duc has some basic rules of thumb in case of an earthquake.
“The message we’re hoping to get out is, take cover, protect your head and your neck,” he said. “We love our beautiful brick buildings here on campus, but you don’t want to be exiting the building when that beautiful brick facade is falling.”

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