The outer coast of Washington State is exposed to significant seismic and tsunami hazards. A Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) event is expected to cause high earthquake intensities and tsunami inundation resulting in considerable infrastructure loss, inundation of developed land, and degraded functioning of coastal communities.
One area of particular concern is Pacific County, located in southwest Washington, where over 85% of the population is expected to experience severe shaking intensities.
This paper establishes the pre-disaster passenger and freight transportation patterns and the damaged post-disaster road network in Pacific County. The hazard used in the analysis is the CSZ magnitude 9.1 earthquake and resulting tsunami. Passenger travel is compared to forestry travel along the following characteristics: overall change in travel distance, percentage of trips that are longer, the percentage of trips that are no longer possible, and the distributions of travel distance.
Because passenger and freight travel have different purposes and patterns, understanding how they are affected differently can serve as a foundation for community-based disaster recovery planning to increase community resilience to earthquakes and tsunamis.
Rowell, Maura, and Anne Goodchild. "Effect of Tsunami Damage on Passenger and Forestry Transportation in Pacific County, Washington." Transportation Research Record 2604, no. 1 (2017): 88-94.