Caltech said Saturday it’s working with other agencies to ensure California is alerted in the event of a earthquake along the pacific fault.

“We do know the risk, and we’re trying to figure out ways to manage it,” said Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Officials say Japan and California share one crucial distinction — they both have large subduction zones and are thus susceptible to tremendously large earthquakes, although generally rare.

“If we get a similar sized earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, it will have a major impact on the whole region,” said Tom Heaton, a professor of engineering at Caltech. “We now know they both have very large subduction zones on them.”

Jones said the question of a major earthquake hitting the Pacific Northwest is not if, but when.

“That earthquake is inevitable.” she said, adding that it may not occur until “100 200, 500 years from now.”

Heaton said the last major earthquake in the northwest was the Cascadia earthquake of 1700, which caused a massive, deadly tsunami in Japan. That tsunami did not have a large impact on residents in the northwest because that region was virtually uninhabited.

Heaton said that earthquake was “considerably larger than this one.”

But the next one could have much more critical repercussions.

“Now those areas have larger population,” said Heaton, saying now was the time to look into possible solutions.

“All you have to do is look at this earthquake and see what a serious situation this is,” he said.

Jones said the data captured during the past week’s Japanese earthquake and aftershocks will go a long way in preparing California and the western United States.

“This is the type of earthquake that the pacific northwest will have,” she said. “I would be very studious [and] learn the lessons.”

In past years, California has enacted and tested many earthquake drills, including emergency evacuation drills, siren tests and reverse 911 calling.

“We certainly have worked very hard to promote earthquake and tsunami preparedness in California,” said James Goltz, manager of the California Emergency Management Agency’s Earthquake and Tsunami response.

“We were most concerned about the tsunami affected the california coast,” he said.

Goltz has been serving at the tsunami officer for the past week and said only four counties — Del Norte, Humboldt, San Mateo and Santa Cruz — had reported any damages. But he also said California needs to take further steps to ensure safety in the event of an emergency here.

Jones praised California’s adoption of earthquake training programs.

“We developed the scenario of the big earthquake that became the California shakeout,” said Jones.

Jones said a plan for tsunami training is now in the works as well.

“We begun a few months ago to develop our tsunami scenario,” she said. “This earthquake in Japan will help people in the Pacific Northwest.”