SEATTLE (AP) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency and its Canadian counterparts will work together for the first time to model a catastrophic 9.0 earthquake striking the Pacific Northwest.
An agreement was signed Friday at a conference sponsored by FEMA in Seattle. The two agencies will use FEMA’s Hazus disaster modeling program, which the agency provides for free to state and local emergency planners.
The models help agencies plan how to respond in case disasters strikes.
Of particular worry to American and Canadian governments is the 680-mile long Cascadia fault line, which runs just 50 miles off Washington’s shore. Scientists have found that a big 8.0 to 9.0 earthquake has hit that fault line about every 500 years. The last one struck in 1700.
