#2. To: Dakmar, Esso, BTP Holdings, ghostrider, Pinguinite (#1)
The biggest earthquakes are subduction zone quakes where one tectonic plate subducts under another. The 1960 Chile quakes lasted 10 minutes and was the strongest quake in modern history. An 8.35 quake has the same energy release as two 25 megaton Hydrogen bombs. A 9.35 quake has 10 times the amplitude and 31.6 times the energy released as those 2 Hydrogen bombs.
Off the coast of the Cascade subduction zone is the Juan de Fuca plate which on its western edge is subducting under the Cascade zone. On the eastern edge of the Juan de Fuca plate is the Axial Seamount volcano which is on the ocean floor. It is expected to erupt by the end of 2025. This could trigger a megaquake as large as Kamchatka if not even greater. That could easily cause Mt Rainier to erupt which would send a lahar all the way to Tacoma, south Seattle and Olympia, the state capitol. A lahar is a sort of flash flood of lava, melted ice and snow, mud and debris. South Seattle is built on top of the remains of a 150 foot deep lahar.
I decided against further comment on the implications of this event for America and the world.