Many of the hazards we face are related to the physical effects of natural processes and events. The public can understand and take action to reduce some of these risks if they know about them. Hazard maps help you understand where the land-related hazards may occur. They also show where hazard zones intersect with man-made features like roads, pipelines, and structures, allowing you to plan ahead for modifying or avoiding these locations.

Many of the hazards we face are related to the physical effects of natural processes and events, such as earthquakes. The public can understand and take action to reduce some of these risks if they know about them. Your city has the potential to be hit by an earthquake. Before the big one hits, it's important to be aware of what to expect. Knowing the dangers ahead can help you prepare and protect yourself and your family. That's why scientists at the USGS recently released these new maps that show us what Seattle could look like in an earthquake.

You might not think about it on a daily basis, but we live in one of the most seismically active areas in the country. In fact, the entire Pacific Northwest is ripe with faults from top to bottom! While many of these can remain inactive for thousands of years, they do have the potential to rupture.

USGS:

"These hazard maps for Seattle depict the hazard for ground shaking at frequencies of about 1 cycle per second. Generally speaking, buildings of 10 stories in height are most sensitive to ground shaking at this frequency, so these maps show the hazard to medium-sized buildings. Since single-family houses are most sensitive to ground-shaking frequencies higher than 1 cycle per second, these maps may not always be a good indicator of the hazard to single-family houses. However, areas of artificial fill and young alluvium (soft soils), as indicated by the locations with highest hazard in these maps, have elevated levels of hazard for a variety of building types, including single-family houses. We are currently conducting research to assess the vulnerability of single-family houses to basin surface waves with frequencies around 1 cycle per second. We expect that many earthquake sources will produce such surface waves in the Seattle basin." 

Source: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/urban/seattle.php