Earthquakes – unfortunately – can’t be predicted, but thanks to the progress made by geology in recent decades, we can at least try to identify regions where the ideal conditions for their occurrence exist.

We know that the Earth’s crust is made up of a composite of so-called tectonic plates, large portions of crust (and to a small extent also the upper mantle) that continuously move alongside each other, like pieces of a giant puzzle. In addition to the twenty main plates, there are also so-called “micro-plates,” which are smaller in size.
Well… the regions where tectonic plates come into contact with each other are the so-called subduction zones, where the smaller or less energetic plate tries to escape the collision by diving beneath the larger one. Many of the places affected by these faults – Chile and Japan, for example – are sadly known precisely for the devastating earthquakes that have struck them in the past; while another region, California, crossed by the San Andreas Fault, is often said to potentially suffer the consequences of a fearsome earthquake in the future: The Big One, as they call it around there.

Nothing compared to what could soon unleash in a stretch of coastline located just a bit north, the one dominated by the Cascade Range. Forget the Big One… it’ll be a Big One cubed… Something the locals have already dubbed (with shameless pride): The Really Big One!