Experts predict that within the next 50 years, Washington and northern Oregon may face a 10 – 15% probability of an offshore earthquake powerful enough to kill thousands and launch a tsunami that would level coastal cities. Off southern Oregon, the probability of an 8-or-higher magnitude quake is even greater — 37%, according to Oregon State University’s Chris Goldfinger, one of the world’s top experts on subduction-zone quakes. Read more about northwest earthquake predictions