When the "big one" hits

A geotechnical engineering professor at Oregon State University says when the "big one" hits, not only will it collapse buildings, it will likely generate a large number of landslides.

For years, scientists have said a major magnitude 9.0 earthquake could strike the Pacific Northwest at any time.

That is something Jill Ward understands. She has lived in her Portland West Hills home for 30 years.
She knows if a major earthquake hits, there will likely be landslides.

"My house is probably going to slide too and slide on top of my neighbors," Ward said. "I guess I'm just hoping it doesn't happen."

"It's got huge consequences say for the west hills of Portland," said Ben Mason.

Mason is a engineering professor at Oregon State University and was a member of a team that recently went to Nepal to study quake-caused slides.

"The Katmandu Valley is not very dissimilar than say the Willamette Valley," said Mason.

Last April, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal, killing thousands.

While collapsing structures killed many, massive landslides buried entire towns.

Mason says the fault that caused the Nepal quake is very similar to the Cascadia Subduction Zone off Oregon and Washington's coast.

The only difference?

Ours could produce a much bigger magnitude 9.0 quake.

Mason says the hills most at risk here are those in the Coast Range.

"The land-sliding we expect in Oregon is going to be mainly focused on those center coastal hills," he said.

And our nine months of rain a year doesn't help.

"The fact our hills are going to be wetter more of the time is going to lead to an increased risk of land-sliding," he said.

But Mason adds the extent of landslides in Portland's West Hills is a bit more of an unknown, which is why he says studying earthquake damage elsewhere will help scientists and citizens better understand what could happen.

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