Pacific Northwest Earthquake Preparedness Act of 2019
This bill requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop a plan for the purchase and installation of an earthquake early warning system for the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The term "Cascadia Subduction Zone" means the landward-dipping fault that is approximately 684 miles long, separates the Juan De Fuca and North America plates, and stretches along a portion of the western coast of the United States beginning off Cape Mendocino, California, along the states of Oregon and Washington, to Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
The President shall establish an Earthquake and Tsunami Task Force to develop a comprehensive strategy and recommendations on how the nation should prepare and plan for, mitigate against, respond to, recover from, and more successfully adapt to an earthquake, tsunami, or combined earthquake and tsunami event in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. FEMA shall report to Congress on the comprehensive strategy and task force recommendations.
The task force shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences for developing recommendations for a federal research strategy to advance scientific understanding of a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and resulting tsunami preparedness.