The most recent training exercises make the somewhat rosy estimate that fewer than 1,000 people will die in Portland, though privately Roddey isn't so optimistic. "These are very survivable earthquakes," he says—but when you factor in contingencies like collapsing parking garages, the picture is less sanguine. The news is even worse on the Oregon coast, where less than 30 minutes after the tremors subside a 30-foot tsunami will smash in and out the length of the coastline at 35 mph, pulling down buildings and raking them back and forth across the beachfront. "It's not the water that kills you," Roddey says. "It's the minivan. Or the shed, or the tractor."