FROM PAGE ONE
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022
COURT
CASCADIA
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
“I’m always for more local con-
trol,” she said.
In a statement, the Union
County Democratic Party said the
decision leaves millions of Amer-
ican women without abortion as a
viable alternative.
“The decision to have an abor-
tion is one that should be made by
the individual and the individual
alone — not by judges, not by
MAGA politicians and not by your
ability to pay or the ZIP code you
live in,” the Union County Demo-
cratic Party statement said.
The statement went on to say
that everyone — members of Con-
gress, medical professionals, advo-
cates and voters — should stand
up against this “nightmare vision”
of people forced to carry pregnan-
cies to term against their will.
“Let’s be clear on one thing —
SCOTUS did not prevent abor-
tions through their archaic ruling.
They simply pushed America
back into the dark ages of wom-
en’s rights,” the Democratic state-
ment said.
Union County Commissioner
Paul Anderes said the decision
changes the political dynamics of
the abortion issue.
“It aff ects the people of our
county but it is not a county-spe-
cifi c issue. It is a state and federal
issue now,” he said.
Anderes said that the decision
will not put the abortion issue to
rest.
“I think there will be suits and
countersuits for a long time,” he
said.
The elimination of the consti-
tutional right is a landmark deci-
sion but its impact in Oregon will
be negligible as the right to ter-
minate a pregnancy has been pro-
tected under the state constitution
since 1983.
Oregon became the fi rst state
to codify abortion rights in law
in 2017. The Reproductive Health
Equity Act of 2017 requires insur-
ance companies to cover abor-
tion costs, among other things,
and guarantees the state will cover
costs for people on Medicaid or
who are uninsured, including
those without legal documentation
to reside in the U.S. A federal law,
the Hyde Amendment, prevents
federal money from being used to
pay for abortions.
to her real life experiences with
its staff .
Union County joined Baker,
Umatilla and Harney counties
in participating in the Cascadia
earthquake response simulation
on June 27 and June 28. The exer-
cise tested communications, lines
of succession, priority assess-
ments such as debris removal,
roadway damages, response times
and fuel distribution issues the
counties would face in the event
of a major earthquake.
LaRochelle learned of the
fi ctitious GRH water pressure
problem not from a script but
from a phone call from a sim-
ulated cellphone call center in
Pendleton. There people por-
traying individuals with fi rsthand
information about the status of
Union, Baker, Harney and Uma-
tilla counties following the hypo-
thetical earthquake made calls to
update those participating in the
exercise.
“The sim cell callers enhanced
a sense of realism and authen-
ticity,” said Annette Powers,
of Union County Emergency
Services.
Those participating in the
Union County portion of the
exercise included representa-
tives of Grande Ronde Hos-
pital, American Red Cross, city
of La Grande, La Grande Rural
Fire Department, Union County,
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation, Oregon Trail Electric
Cooperative, Ziply Fiber, Avista
Utilities, Federal Emergency
Management Association, Ama-
teur Radio Emergency Service,
Center for Human Development
and Oregon Department of Emer-
gency Management.
FOOD
Continued from Page A1
food distribution center in Island
City. So far, local donation levels
have not changed.
Across Oregon
This trend also has been seen
across the state.
“We are in a historic high
for hunger in Oregon,” Morgan
said.
THE OBSERVER — A7
WHAT IS THE CASCADIA
EARTHQUAKE?
The potential Cascadia earthquake
is based on the Cascadia subduction
zone, a 600-mile fault that runs from
Northern California up to Vancouver
Island, British Columbia, and is about
70-100 miles off the Pacifi c coast shore-
line. Subduction zone earthquakes
can exceed a magnitude of 9.0. While
Northeastern Oregon is located far
from the center of the subduction
zone, the Cascadia earthquake could
cause extreme shaking in the region
for several minutes that would aff ect
buildings, utilities and transportation.
Dick Mason/The Observer
this problem could be addressed
by the many generous famers in
Union County who have large
quantities of fuel stored they
would likely share with others.
“The people in this valley are
just plain generous,” she said. “I
know that people would step up.”
Union County’s resources
could be taxed even if the roads
leading into it were not closed.
Powers noted that if an earth-
quake hit the Portland area hard
it could trigger a mass exodus of
people to Northeastern Oregon.
Then the question would be if
Union County had the resources
to meet the needs of the poten-
tially thousands of evacuees
who would come here.
Powers said representatives
of the American Red Cross
addressed this issue during the
Cascadia exercise by making
plans to get public sheltering
facilities in place.
LaRochelle, who was not able
to attend the June 28 session of
the regional exercise, said people
with federal agencies at the June
27 simulation were impressed
with how it went.
“They said, ‘You guys just
rolled,’” LaRochelle said.
Carrie Brogoitti, left, Nick Vora, center, and Craig Kretschmer on Monday, June
27, 2022, take part in a multi-county Cascadia earthquake response exercise at
the Union County law enforcement building, La Grande. Kretschmer is chief of
the La Grande Rural Fire Department, Vora is the emergency manager for Union
County and Brogoitti is the public health administrator for the Center for Human
Development.
The representatives of these
agencies worked together to
address in real time hypothet-
ical emergency situations an
earthquake could create. Powers
said one of the objectives of
the exercise was to get mem-
bers of organizations that would
likely have to work together in
the event of an earthquake to
get to know one another and
learn how their agencies could
help one another. She noted that
people who have already devel-
oped professional relationships
are able to work more effi ciently
in an emergency.
LaRochelle said the Cascadia
earthquake exercise “cemented”
already existing working rela-
tionships among local agency
representatives.
The participants received sim
cell calls about not only falling
water pressure but also road-
closing mudslides, broken natural
gas lines, fallen electrical lines,
and supply and food shortages.
In the event of a natural
disaster such as the Cascadia
earthquake, shortages of essential
items could be caused by road
closures preventing truck ship-
ments from getting here. Powers
said the issue of food shortages
was addressed by arranging for
the Oregon Department of Trans-
portation to clear roadways for
trucks and to do other things to
help them transport their food
into towns.
Also addressed at the earth-
quake simulation was the poten-
tial for fuel shortages. The
delivery of gasoline and diesel
also could be aff ected by closed
roads. LaRochelle said fuel
shortages could be particu-
larly impactful after an earth-
quake because there is a good
chance that power lines will be
down, forcing many to rely on
diesel generators for their power.
LaRochelle said she believes
The pandemic increased the
number of people experiencing
hunger in the state. In 2019
— prior to the pandemic —
860,000 people in Oregon and
Southwestern Washington asked
for food at least once during
the year, according to Morgan.
This number nearly doubled for
2020 — 1.7 million people —
and remained high in 2021 —
1.2 million people. At the start
of 2022, the number of people
needing food assistance seemed
to be continuing the down-
ward trend, but recently that has
turned around and the number
is once more climbing.
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for food purchases to keep up
with demand.
“As a concrete example,
pre-pandemic a truckload
of peanut butter cost about
$34,000. That same truck load
today is well over $40,000,”
she said.
This trend has been seen
throughout the nation, but so
far Oregon has been able to
meet the need with existing
food assistance sites and
supplies.
Impact on Oregon Food Bank
The rising costs of food
and fuel have also directly
impacted the Oregon Food
Bank. According to Morgan,
fuel costs are up 30% and
freight costs are up 16% since
December. On average, the
food bank is paying 12% more
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