Cascadia 9 Game
Rehearsing Disaster
Are you ready for "the Big One"?
Soon (maybe tomorrow, maybe decades from now), the Pacific Northwest will be hit with another massive earthquake originating in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. In Cascadia 9.0, you play as several different characters to learn how to survive and thrive in this earth-shaking catastrophe! Cascadia 9.0 was developed as part of an ongoing research effort to understand what motivates young adults to prepare for earthquakes and other natural disasters. Play Cascadia 9.0 now.
The Cascadia Subduction Zone
The Pacific Northwest is awaiting another giant earthquake like the more than 40 magnitude 8 and 9 events that have rocked the region in the last 10,000 years. This is because of our proximity to the Cascadia subduction zone, a tectonic plate boundary where the oceanic Juan de Fuca plate is diving underneath the North American plate. The building tension caused by friction between the two plates will eventually trigger an earthquake from northern California to southern British Columbia. Following the quake, western Oregon could be without water, fuel, and medical services for months. While recent press has warned the public about "the Big One," much of the Pacific Northwest remains unprepared. Read more about the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Research and Game Design
Cascadia 9.0 was designed and developed by an interdisciplinary team of programmers, geologists, media scholars, and psychologists as part of an ongoing research project to better understand disaster preparedness. Read more about our research and game design.
