On January 26, 1700, at about 9:00 PM Pacific time, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.0 struck off the northwest coast.
A combination of ocean floor core samples, inland mud and sand layers, ghost forest tree ring dating, and Japanese written tsunami records pinned down this date with amazing accuracy.
Most structural engineers have experienced a glazed-over look in someone else’s eyes when describing what they do for a living, followed by a response like, “so, you’re an architect?”
There remains ignorance in the public about what structural engineering (and engineering in general) is for. Other engineering disciplines may be even more confusing; I doubt most people could define the term, “geotechnical”. Personally, I’m still not 100 percent sure what an industrial engineer does.
I think the fault of this ignorance lies primarily with engineers. We have an incredibly cool profession and if people understood better what we do, we would probably make more money, quite frankly. Especially if we were passionate about taking our skills and orienting them toward serving the community, region, and world to make it a better place (which is the reason all professions should exist).
Structural engineering seems to be making more inroads into the public sphere in recent years. It’s always amusing when Hollywood addresses your career. This happened in the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One (slight spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it). The movie specified a large building, which reminded me of a dark version of a Dubai hotel, as a site dedicated to structural engineering (among other things) for the Empire. And there was also the scene of a group of engineers (in lab coats?) being assassinated for apparent faulty design of the Death Star. Considering the fact that this Death Star weakness led to the downfall of the Empire in subsequent episodes, this was understandable using Imperial logic, I suppose.
The Structural Engineers Association of Oregon has this clear statement defining the profession of structural engineering (good job, whoever wrote it):
Structural Engineering is the practice of analyzing and designing buildings, bridges and other structures to resist forces induced by gravity, wind, and earthquakes and to safely transfer these forces to the ground.
See here for more: http://www.seao.org/resources/aboutstructengr/
Regarding engineering in general, there are a number of good definitions online, but here is my very simple one:
Engineers apply science and mathematics to the real world to solve real world problems.
Engineers and the engineering profession should act as a bridge between the theoretical realm of science/ mathematics and real life.
Consider the large problem of an impending Cascadia megaquake. The science indicating that these earthquakes have happened and that the subduction zone is locked and building up energy has been settled for about 20 years.
Emergency management at the state and federal level has been aware of the threat for a long time also. The Oregon Resilience Plan, which was a state funded plan addressing the effects of a Cascadia megaquake and its consequences, was published in 2013.
Journalists helped disperse the information about this topic into the homes and hearts of Pacific Northwest residents (thank you Sandi Doughton and Kathryn Schulz, to name two). For the last couple of years, there has been more mainstream awareness of this issue than ever. And my experience has been that people are still baffled by the topic and wondering what to do about it.
Here is my exhortation to engineers, particularly those involved in the disciplines of infrastructure (civil, structural, and geotechnical at the forefront). The Cascadia earthquake threat is large enough to involve all of our individual efforts for years. Please consider what part you can play in increasing your personal, community, and regional resilience. We all know more than the average person about earthquakes and what they do to the ground and to structures. Don’t hide in your cubicle or office. Do what you can with your career to help and you will be saving lives when the earthquake happens.
In Portland, engineers know that there are about 1800 URM (brick) buildings which may partially or completely collapse in a large earthquake. We know many older homes have weak cripple walls, dangerous unreinforced chimneys, and “soft story” weaknesses which will result in damage, injury, and in some cases, loss of life. We know there will likely be long term loss of power and drinking water. We know industrial areas are set to contaminate our rivers with millions of gallons of liquid fuel. Wow, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s get to work.
Engineers are a key to helping bridge our gap between what we now know (the science) and resilience. But not just engineers… every one of us can help and I would argue that we have a duty to make steps toward preparedness.
Science => => => => => (our gap) => => => => => Resilience
Journalists
Engineers
Emergency Planners/ Responders
City and State Leaders
Heavy Industry
Everyone
You and me
The reality of a potential impending large earthquake in the Pacific Northwest has made its way to the general public in the last few years. When the New Yorker article “The Really Big One” came out in the summer of 2015, many of us were shocked and genuinely scared. After some initial shock wore off, people reacted in a number of ways ranging from buying earthquake insurance to storing up food and water to just living with a new level of anxiety they hadn’t known before (the latter probably being the most common reaction). I recall talking to an insurance agent soon afterward and he told me that it was crazy how many people had rushed to buy earthquake insurance recently. He didn’t miss a beat transitioning to sales mode in his next statement, which was something like, “you should consider buying some also to protect your family.”
But what should we actually do with this information that is new to many of us? And, to address the title of this blog post, how do we deal with “earthquake anxiety”?
Consider this goofy story as an anxiety illustration: I was recently in a restroom at Starbucks and the lock on the door didn’t give me any evidence that it worked. This mattered because the door opened to a view of the coffee line and cash register. I played with the lock and couldn’t gain any confidence in it. It made almost no sound when I pressed it, and it didn’t seem to even change position. Opening and closing the door a couple of times didn’t verify it’s functionality, except for a small, barely audible click. I reluctantly used the restroom anyway, but not without some anxiety.
That’s already too much information with the personal restroom story. But here’s the point about anxiety: it is caused by feeling like you have no control over a potential problem. The solution, I believe, is a combination of taking purposeful action that addresses the problem and letting go of control over the things you don’t have control over.
Consider how much lower my anxiety in the restroom would have been if the door had a deadbolt that made a loud noise as it was being engaged and it visibly could be seen sliding into place through the crack in the door. In the same way, adequate earthquake preparedness steps give you confidence that you have addressed the problem and will likely survive “the really big one”, and even thrive in the aftermath and be able to help others.
I just mentioned that the solution to earthquake anxiety is to take purposeful action that addresses the problem and to let go of control over things you don’t have control over. The first step involves practical actions, many of which could be accomplished by anyone living in the Pacific Northwest. The second is more related to mental health, psychology, etc, which I’m not an expert on (but see Matthew 6:25-34 if you are inclined as I am to address this through the lens of faith).
I will dive into some specifics in further posts, mainly related to actions we can take, but for now I want to point out that we can only do what we can do. We can’t control when an earthquake (or any future high stress event) will come, but we can make a huge difference in our resilience when it does. A head-in-the-sand approach is irrational and will not make anxiety go away. Also, resigning to the overwhelm of tasks ahead is not a good approach, either: “I’m not going to do anything because there would be too much to do”, or “it will happen if it happens” are examples of this kind of thinking.
The work ahead in earthquake resilience can indeed be overwhelming, but even just a first few steps can make a big difference on an individual or family level than not being prepared at all. A good preparedness plan will add redundancy to whatever plans you put in place. This is a topic, that, if you plan to live in the northwest for a long time, is very important. What should your next steps be in 2017 to make yourself and your family more earthquake resilient? If you have no ideas, stay tuned here…