On Jan. 26, 1700, a massive earthquake erupted along the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the West Coast of the United States. The quake sent a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean to Japan and drowned forests along the Oregon coast. 

It’s now 325 years later, and earthquake scientists say we’re overdue for another similarly large quake to hit the Pacific Northwest. It’s a matter of when, not if. And this time around, an earthquake would strike a now highly populated region, setting off cascading impacts: Flooding the coastline, triggering landslides, collapsing bridges many miles inland, and damaging infrastructure across the Northwest for months to years afterwards. 

At the University of Oregon, researchers are working from many angles to make sure people across the Cascadia region are as prepared as possible.

They’re helping to build and improve an earthquake early warning system called ShakeAlert, which sends cell phone notifications urging people to protect themselves before dangerous shaking arrives. They’re digging into the geological record to reconstruct what this past quake might have looked like, to improve modeling for the future. And they’re working to build resilience and earthquake preparation across the Pacific Northwest, so that when “the Big One” does hit, we’re as ready as we can be.