00:00Imagine a 1,000-foot wave crashing into the U.S. West Coast.
00:04Could it happen?
00:05A new study from Virginia Tech warns of a 15% chance of a magnitude 8.0 quake
00:10over the next 50 years along the Cascadia subduction zone.
00:14If that quake strikes, it could trigger a mega-tsunami with waves up to 1,000 feet high.
00:20Such a wave could inundate coastal cities like Seattle and Portland,
00:23sinking land by as much as 6.5 feet and vastly expanding flood zones.
00:28Unlike ordinary tsunamis, this would be sudden, with little to no warning.
00:33The researchers say previous hazard maps underestimate how far flooding could spread.
00:38This study is a wake-up call.
00:40Disaster planning must go beyond known limits.
00:43Want to dive deeper?
00:44I'll link the full paper below.
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