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Comment by StClaire | Hacker News Reader

That whole area is completely geologically unstable. Before we build a bullet train we need to reinforce major buildings in Seattle and prepare Vancouver Island for a tsunami

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They manage to build HSR in Taiwan, a country in an earthquake zone ("the ring of fire"), with more rainfall than the amazon.

Most of the rain seems to run on a bridge from the top of the country to the bottom.

But Japan has taken significant steps to prepare themselves for an earthquake, no? I'm not as confident about Seattle's preparedness. In five years of living here I can only recall maybe two times we were actively encouraged to review our personal preparedness plans. Any other information on the topic is something I had to find on my own.

In the process of drilling a tunnel over 100' under ground (because the existing elevated road can't withstand another earthquake) several older buildings began to shift at the surface. Downtown Seattle is extremely unstable and I'm not confident that the structures in the city are prepared for the type of quake we are about to face. Japan has had a lot of wake up calls and as far as I know has done a lot more preparation.

Before we spend a few billion dollars on a train maybe we should spend some of that cash on making sure our apartments and offices don't end up in Lake Union or Elliott Bay.

I think you meant to say Vancouver Island. Vancouver has a massive island protecting it from a tsunami.

You don't have to be faster than the bear, you just have to be faster than someone else.

Nice call

Would the island protect it or help to funnel all the water up the bay?

Protect it. I live on the shores of English Bay and the water typically barely ripples, waves are rare and more than that is practically unheard of. Compare this to the Pacific Ocean storms out on the open.

That's not what a tsunami is though. A tsunami is not a wave in the sense you allude to, it is the whole water level rising in unison. A breakwater does not protect you from a tsunami.

Vancouver islander here - tbh, Vancouver Island is mostly okay too. If you look at the map, you'll see that a huge peninsula shelters the most populous area (Victoria) from tsunami. Most of the smaller towns are on the inside passage. The only places that are in real danger are Tofino, Ucluelet, Port Renfrew, and several small native settlements. It's a shame because those are some of my favorite places on earth, but 90% of Vancouver Island doesn't live there.

(I did the research on this last year after I had a nightmare about tsunamis.)

Not sure why you're getting down voted... currently looking at relocating to Seattle and this was the first thing I thought of.

If we're going to build such a train it needs to be engineered to be safe from the faults along the cascadia subduction zone - that may be no small feat.

Isn't Japan even more seismologically active than the Seattle area? They seem to do fine with high speed rail.

I'm not sure how the two regions compare but I don't think seismic activity alone is the only factor to consider. Much of the Seattle area is at risk of land slides and although we have fewer noticeable quakes we may still see more severe ones with less frequency.

What? A tsunami in Seattle? Look at a map. Seattle isn't on the open ocean.

Earthquakes sure, volcanoes...Rainier popping its top could take out the whole city. But it is pretty safe from giant waves.

Vancouver Island is an island in British Columbia and is unprotected from the open Pacific Ocean.

Large parts of Seattle are fill and are at a significant risk of land slide in case of a major quake.

Yes, but Seattle has no tsunami risk.

Right, the tsunami risk is to Vancouver Island and the earthquake/landslide risk is to Seattle.

StClaire did not suggest a tsunami risk to Seattle.

It depends on the association of the for clause in the text. I read it as reinforcing buildings in Seattle (and preparing Vancouver island) for a tsunami. They didn't say anything about earthquakes.

Nobody* lives on the part of Vancouver island that is unprotected from the open Pacific Ocean.

* Almost nobody.

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