How fast do you think you could prepare if “The Big One” hits Washington? How fast do you think you could clear out of a tsunami zone?

Last year, the Washington Geological Survey published a model of how Grays Harbor and Pacific County would be hit with a massive wave following a 9.0 earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the fault line that runs about 600-miles along the West Coast.

As earthquakes hammer the Southern California desert, we thought the study was worth revisiting.

In the study, researchers estimated how much time residents would have to prepare for a huge tsunami wave. Their guess? About 15 to 20 minutes.

Of course, that’d be following a mighty powerful earthquake as well.

“With a magnitude 9.0 event you’re expecting a severe amount of shaking,” Dan Eungard, one of the scientists who published the report, said.

“For the people on the outer coast all the way into Puget Sound, and essentially all of the western Washington area – and that extends as far down into northern California and lower British Columbia area as well – they would experience a strong degree of shaking. And when I say a strong degree of shaking, you would not be able to stand, you would be forced to the ground, just because you wouldn’t be able to hold your balance.”

According to their model, a 9.0 earthquake struck the Zone, the first tsunami would arrive on land along the outer coasts mere minutes later, with the wave moving at speeds exceeding 40 miles per hour.

RELATED: Washington’s faults: Where the Earth moves the Seattle area

On the outer coasts that could mean inundation depth ranges from 20 to 60 feet; these rates decrease to generally less than 10 feet within Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor……..more here