Future shocks - Modern science, ancient catastrophes and the endless quest to predict earthquakes

Scientists in the unstable Pacific Northwest of the USA are studying past events to try to predict the likelihood of earthquakes and tsunamis. Geoscientistshave discovered that near Seattle, a "ghost forest" of hollow western red cedars is evidence of a magnitude 9 earthquake which occurred in 1700, resulting in a devastating tsunami in Japan. Paleoseismologists have discovered many signs of past disasters, and now estimate that a major earthquake strikes the Pacific Northwest every few hundred years. Due to underlying geological faults, earthquakes repeatedly occur in the same place, however, the timing of an eventremains unpredictable.