There's a Chance That Nike's World Headquarters Could Be Wiped Out in 50 Years

The New Yorker describes the threat of an enormous earthquake that would devastate Oregon.

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The only natural disaster that most people in Portland worry about is the chance of too much rain, as the Pacific Northwest is known to be a wet climate. But there's something much more sinister and destructive lurking under the waters off the coastline of Oregon — the home state of Nike — and some are speculating it could cause a major catastrophe to the entire region.

In a recent article in The New Yorker, the Cascadia subduction is discussed. It's where the Juan de Fuca Plate meets the North American Plate, and experts are saying it's due for a large earthquake in the next 50 years.

According to The New Yorker's article, there are two possible scenarios that could happen: one big earthquake and one very big earthquake. The article says, "If, on that occasion, only the southern part of the Cascadia subduction zone gives way, the magnitude of the resulting quake will be somewhere between 8.0 and 8.6. That’s the big one. If the entire zone gives way at once, an event that seismologists call a full-margin rupture, the magnitude will be somewhere between 8.7 and 9.2. That’s the very big one."

That means, "In the Pacific Northwest, everything west of Interstate 5 covers some hundred and forty thousand square miles, including Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Eugene, Salem (the capital city of Oregon), Olympia (the capital of Washington), and some seven million people," will be "toast."

That includes Nike's World Headquarters. Not to mention adidas' North America headquarters which is located in Portland, too.

The odds of the smaller earthquake happening are one in three, while the larger one stands a one in 10 chance of occurring.

For everyone's sake, not just sneakerheads, let's pray that those numbers aren't nearly as scary — or realistic — as they appear to be.