This editorial originally appeared in The (Tacoma) News Tribune.

It’s safe to say the “big one” is coming and we’re not prepared. For a state with the second-highest earthquake risk in the U.S., we’re not doing enough for seismic safety.

For decades geologists and seismologists have pointed to two oceanic tectonic plates extending from British Columbia to Northern California. Scientists have alerted anyone who will listen that pent-up pressure from this 700-mile subduction zone will eventually rupture. When it does, the Pacific Northwest can expect a quake between 8.0 and 9.2 on the Richter scale.

But that’s only part one of the disaster; part two is a tsunami that will hit coastal towns with waves up to 100 feet. Washington and Oregon could see more than 14,000 people killed, more than 30,000 injured.

It’s a guessing game when this catastrophe will happen; but as Gov. Jay Inslee said in January: “The science is clear that we have in our future a megaquake.”

Last year, a large-scale drill called Cascadia Rising imagined a worse-case scenario and put local, state, interstate, federal and international resources to the test. After the four-day exercise, state officials called their quake response “grossly inadequate.”