And the people felt the ground shaking and saw the water rising. Or at least, they heard the cries of the New Yorker saying so. And when the people knew that the Big One was coming, they trembled with fear. Well, some of them did.
The Biblical tone is appropriate. There really is a 9.0 earthquake/skyscraper-sized tsunami predicted to unmoor coastal life as we know it in the Pacific Northwest—quite possibly within the next 50 years. Last week the New Yorker trumpeted the story of these apocalyptic truths with terrifying exactness. 13,000 are projected to die, and millions more will be injured or displaced. It will take decades, and an incalculable sum, to recover.
But the article’s fear-mongering has also had an activating effect: People are suddenly buying emergency survival kits in droves. The Seattle Times writes of earthquake packages ‘flying off shelves’:
The Biblical tone is appropriate. There really is a 9.0 earthquake/skyscraper-sized tsunami predicted to unmoor coastal life as we know it in the Pacific Northwest—quite possibly within the next 50 years. Last week the New Yorker trumpeted the story of these apocalyptic truths with terrifying exactness. 13,000 are projected to die, and millions more will be injured or displaced. It will take decades, and an incalculable sum, to recover.
But the article’s fear-mongering has also had an activating effect: People are suddenly buying emergency survival kits in droves. The Seattle Times writes of earthquake packages ‘flying off shelves’:
“Holy cow!” Steve O’Donnell remembers thinking, as he checked the online orders at the Burien headquarters ofAmerican Preparedness.
Sales were going through the roof.If you go on the websites of Costco, Staples or Amazon, you’ll see the small, eight-person company’s earthquake-preparedness kits for sale.
For $179.99, you can get a 2-person, 7-day kit.
For $139.99, it’s a 4-person, 3-day kit.
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