There are rumors circulating about the big earthquake predicted by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that will happen on February 6, 2016 at 9:41 am. Is it true?
The rumor spread after the New Yorker magazine wrote an article about the threat of a catastrophic earthquake devastating the entire Pacific NW due a rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone in July 2015. The Cascadia subduction zone runs some 700 miles from northern California to Vancouver.
The article entitled "The Really Big One: An earthquake will destroy a sizable portion of the coastal Northwest. The question is when" created lots of buzz and interest.
Soon after, rumors claimed that a mega-earthquake with a magnitude of up to 9.2 will occur on Feb. 6, 2016 and would last for four minutes killing an estimated 13,000 people and destroying a sizable portion of the Pacific Northwest.
The rumors accelerated after FEMA blogged quoting New Yorker magazine with heading "The “Big One” in the Pacific Northwest: Taking conversation to action." FEMA is the United States Official website of the Department of Homeland Security.
FEMA blog mentioned that, "the fact that there are people outside of the emergency management community talking about this hazard and their own personal preparedness is a good thing. It’s a conversation that needs to be had."
However, these are only rumors circulated about FEMA actually predicted that the earthquake will happen on February 6, 2016 at 9:41 am. FEMA hasn't mentioned any specific date for the event to occur in future. FEMA has only mentioned that:
If the article got your attention, then you’ve already taken the first step to get better prepared, because you are better informed. This is an opportunity to learn more about the hazards in the Pacific Northwest and how you can better prepare yourself, your family, and your community. Whether you live east or west of Interstate 5, we live in a seismically active area and the worst-case scenario outlined in the article is a real possibility. One of our jobs as FEMA is to plan for an event of that size.