The daily Astorian., September 29, 2016, Page 4A, Image 4

OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
OUR VIEW
Start building
tsunami-safe
buildings now
B
ad as it will be whenever the Cascadia Subduction Zone
next comes unstuck, there are steps we can begin taking
now to ensure most outer coast residents survive to pick up
the pieces.
This is the goal of new design standards for tsunami-safe build-
ings that were unveiled Wednesday in Portland at the American
Society of Civil Engineers’ annual meeting.
Up until geological discoveries in the 1990s, the Paciic
Northwest didn’t have many natural disasters to fret about other
than volcanic eruptions. Then we learned that European-American
settlement happened to occur during one of the centuries-long lulls
between massive earthquakes and the tsunamis they spawn.
Humans adapt to danger and residents of low-lying communi-
ties along the Washington and Oregon coast have reacted with a
kind of optimistic fatalism — iguring it’s unlikely to happen in
any one person’s time here, but if it does there’s nothing that can
be done other than bow to the whims of fate.
“In some places, like Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula or
Ocean Shores, even the leetest runners could never make it to
safety in time and few — if any — buildings are likely to survive
the wall of water that will hit after the shaking stops,” the Seattle
Times reported Tuesday in a story about an ASCE subcommit-
tee’s ideas for better coastal buildings. (See www.tinyurl.com/
Tsunami-Safe-Buildings.) In our area, this danger also looms from
Warrenton to Cannon Beach, and even hangs over Columbia estu-
ary cities including Astoria, Ilwaco and Chinook.
“That grim outlook inspired a group of leading engineers to
create the nation’s irst design standards for tsunami-safe struc-
tures,” the Times reported. “If incorporated into building codes as
the engineers hope, the standards would require that new, critical
facilities like hospitals, police stations and schools in vulnerable
areas be strong enough to withstand the tsunami and tall enough
that occupants won’t be swept away.”
“We’re basically trying to save lives,” one of the engineers said.
“The idea that you would essentially write off whole communities
is not acceptable.”
The ASCE’s Gary Chock points out that some Japanese build-
ings saved tens of thousands of lives during the 2011 tsunami, per-
mitting residents to ride out the lood in structures made to remain
standing despite powerful earth shaking, and pummeling by sea-
water and debris.
In the U.S., the irst similar building — the gymnasium at
Ocosta Elementary School near Westport, Washington — was
dedicated this summer, with room on the roof for 2,000 quake
survivors.
Such multi-functionality is essential, providing an asset that
will be used by community members every day, hopefully for
decades before it is needed to escape a tsunami. This contrasts
with plans for expensive evacuation platforms in planning stages
on the Long Beach Peninsula, designed with little else in mind
besides briely getting school children above harm’s way.
Some building groups object the tsunami-safe standards will
be too expensive, but the civil engineers’ group calculates only a
1 to 3 percent increase in cost. The standards would only apply to
important public buildings, not to homes or private businesses.
Estimates of when a subduction quake and tsunami will hap-
pen are imprecise. Disaster may strike this afternoon or a century
from now. With a little luck, we may have several generations to
build survivable buildings. Civic leaders, planners and architects
now have a good starting point — thanks to the Society of Civil
Engineers — for constructing multi-purpose structures that will
provide decades of service before they are needed to escape the
ocean’s onrushing waters.
Every coastal community, every school board, every hospital
district and government agency — including the U.S. Coast Guard
— should adhere to tsunami-safe building codes from this point
forward.
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GUEST COLUMN
Wildlife center remembers its
founder, celebrates ledgling year
By LINDSEY NICOLAS
For The Daily Astorian
T
his month marks one year
since the passing of Wildlife
Center of the North Coast’s
founder, Sharnelle Fee. Fee, who
has been described as a “light in
our community,” had an incredible
passion for helping animals, con-
servation and education. She was a
champion for wildlife in need.
Fee founded the wildlife center
in 1997 and moved from Portland to
the coast, where she set up shop to
specialize in seabird rehabilitation.
“I have never met anyone as
absolutely dedicated and mission-fo-
cused as Sharnelle,” said Vicki
Bucklin, a longtime volunteer at the
center. “She cared for nothing other
than what was best for the birds and
didn’t mind if she offended anyone
who didn’t agree with her (views).
Fee worked side-by-side with
the volunteers, never asking them
to do anything she hadn’t done
herself at least a million times,”
Bucklin remembered. “She earned
the admiration and respect of those
she worked with, and inspired so
many people in our community and
beyond.”
“She was fun – and funny!,” said
current Director Joshua Saranpaa,
with a laugh. “Sharnelle had such a
sense of humor. She was also a tire-
less worker. She’d run circles around
everyone every single day, but she
loved her volunteers,” he adds with
a smile, “despite the fact she liked
birds more than people.”
Submitted Photo
Sharnelle Fee, founder of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast, who
passed away one year ago this month, is remembered for her im-
mense contribution to saving wildlife and advocating for conserva-
tion along our North Coast.
A year of change
Saranpaa, a licensed wildlife reha-
bilitator, was Fee’s longtime assistant
director and protégé, and has been at
the helm since Fee’s passing. With
support from the Board of Directors
and an outstanding volunteer team,
Saranpaa has accomplished much
to be proud of after his irst year
without Fee.
“The transition has gone really
smooth overall, considering all of the
changes we’ve undergone this year,”
Saranpaa said. “It is sometimes dif-
icult to go from a founder-directed
organization with just one person
calling the shots to one run by a
group of dedicated individuals. We
all have different ideas of what to
focus on and the priorities that we’d
each like to see accomplished, but
we’ve got a great group and have
been working well together. I feel
lucky to have such a great team!”
What started in Fee’s small
mobile home trailer nearly 20 years
ago has grown into a fully functional
wildlife hospital including 19
outdoor enclosures and a variety of
prerelease pools. The wildlife center
relies mostly on volunteer support
and public donations to take care
of over 2,000 patients annually. A
wide variety of birds and mammals
come through their doors every year,
each in need of some kind of care.
Whether injured, sick, starving or
orphaned, the center is working on
building the facility to take care of
their every need.
The wildlife center continues
Fee’s mission of honoring the dignity
of their patients, respecting their
wildness, and returning them to their
natural home as quickly as they can.
“We’re working to improve our
current rehabilitation techniques by
being more science-based and data-
driven in the decisions we make, and
want to expand our ability to rehab
more patients by ixing currently
unusable spaces and have plans for
new, state of the art enclosures,”
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
In addition to the caring for Caspian terns, bottom left, brown peli-
cans, upper left, and cormorants in 2014, right, the Wildlife Center of
the North Coast provided aid to 30 American white pelicans.
Sharnelle and we would love to
honor her legacy by expanding our
education programs and developing a
stronger community-nature partner-
ship. A bold plan, but very exciting,
too.”
Immediate Need
Submitted Photo
Josh Saranpaa of the Wildlife
Center of the North Coast holds
a spotted owl early last year.
Saranpaa said. “We’ll also need to
get some new equipment and add
medications in order to be more
self-suficient in-house, but it’s all a
work in progress.”
From safe, secure kennels inside
for those patients needing critical
care to long light aviaries and ther-
apy pools outside, Saranpaa and his
team have a plan to become a state
of the art wildlife hospital, recovery
center and wildlife-conservation
education center.
“Our goal is to be open to the
public with an education center
onsite in ive years’ time,” he says.
“Education was very important to
This fall is considered the wildlife
center’s “busy season” as starving
seabirds all along the coast wash
up on shore as warmer ocean tem-
peratures deplete their food source.
The center is looking for volunteers
to help with patient care at the
center and those to join the animal
transport network they have set up
along the coastline from Newport to
Long Beach, Washington. Anyone
interested in lending a helping hand
can email volunteer@coastwildlife.
org for more information on how to
sign up.
Don’t have the time, but still want
to help? The center has an item “wish
list” posted on their website, www.
CoastWildlife.org, and accepts mon-
etary donations there as well. For
those interested in staying involved
and up to date with the wildlife
center, join their new membership
program by visiting the website.
Donations can also be mailed to
Wildlife Center of the North Coast,
P.O. Box 1232, Astoria, OR 97103.
Lindsey Nicolas is the develop-
ment and communications coordi-
nator for the Wildlife Center of the
North Coast.