The next big earthquake will inevitably come, but predicting exactly when a giant earthquake will come is impossible. The three-and-a-half minute CBC video explains why multiple pieces and tears complicates our predictive abilities to forecast plate tectonics down to the year; focused on the impact that this earthquake will have on southern British Columbia. That physical certainty combined with temporal uncertainty makes for difficult messaging; it’s thought to expect people to brace for impending doom if it might not come in their lifetimes. That uncertainty leads many to not prepare for it as an inevitable because it easier to ignore. This 2015 New Yorker article also nicely lays out the context of the “really big one.”

Below is a PBS video that spends the first 7 minutes of the geographic context of the impending “Big One” that will hit Cascadia (another name for the coastal Pacific northwest with the Cascade Mountains). The remainder video focuses on personal and communal emergency preparation which requires a lot of situational awareness. For example, are you in a new building or an old building? Are you in higher floors of a tall building? What utility connections might be damaged? Knowing your own personal geography helps to inform your safety plan.