RCAA ON-LINE LIBRARY
Earthquake Risks
Issues in Brief: Most of Western Washington is at risk for fairly frequent, damaging earthquakes. Sea-Tac Airport lies in a zone of greater-than-normal risk. Even the relatively mild “Nisqually” quake of February 2001 caused a good deal of damage at Sea-Tac (as was also the case at Boeing Field). Mapping of faults in the general area is still incomplete, new faults being found every year or so. An earthquake that damages any runway at Sea-Tac will likely damage all, AND do similar damage at Boeing Field.
There is considerable community concern that a major earthquake would result in the embankment collapsing—a disaster both for the Airport and the community west of the Airport.
Documents:
Isotropy(liquefaction) page [link] Link to a page that explains how the process of liquefaction works.
Nisqually Earthquake Clearinghouse Page [link] Sea-Tac tower damage during the 2002 Nisqually Earthquake.
Map of Liquefaction Zones in the vicinity of Sea-Tac [link] This website has a reproduction map of the potential liquefaction areas around the Airport, drawn from the Port's EIS maps. On this map the liquefaction areas are colored in. Maps in the EIS were badly reproduced black and white maps. The website also has a great many links to pages explaining liquefaction soils and earthquake issues.
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