Japan Earthquake Holds Lessons

by Sara Reardon  

For Japan, perched on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," a major earthquake is no great surprise. The country's building codes and earthquake alert systems are among the most sophisticated in the world and have no doubt saved thousands of lives. Now, scientists in the Pacific Northwest, whose Cascadia fault holds eerie similarities to the one that triggered today's quake in Japan, say the disaster may force them to reexamine their own earthquake preparedness.

"This earthquake is going to be the benchmark for the Pacific Northwest when the Cascadia fault breaks," says seismologist John Vidale of the University of Washington, Seattle. "We know that it can have an earthquake of this magnitude. It's a question of when, not if." More Here