Hub principal investigator and Pacific Northwest Seismic Network director, Harold Tobin, spoke with Washington’s King 5 news network about a recent earthquake in Washington. The 6.5 quake off the coast of Vancouver Island that occurred on July 11th, 2024 triggered ShakeAlert, a free cell phone application that can alert users about nearby earthquakes. This is the first time it was triggered in the state of Washington. Although the Cascadia Subduction Zone, an active off-shore fault line, poses a significant risk to Pacific Northwest coastal communities, this recent earthquake is not a sign to panic. 

The recent earthquake on July 11th isn’t an indication that a megathrust earthquake, often referred to as “The Big One”, is coming. Tobin emphasizes that “this is just showing us that all (of the fault lines) is active and alive… but I also don’t think it reduces the likelihood of a big earthquake for us here in the Pacific Northwest.”

Watch the interview and read the article here.