7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2017
Cascadia: ‘I think the key is preparedness’
Continued from Page 1A
MAKING SURE YOU’RE PREPARED
Meanwhile, tens of thou-
sands of buildings west of the
Cascades will collapse, fol-
lowed by a massive tsunami
that would further destroy
coastal cities in Oregon and
Washington. FEMA’s 2013
Cascadia Subduction Zone
response plan, used this sum-
mer for an intergovernmental
“Cascadia Rising” drill in the
Northwest, estimated 5,200
deaths and 15,500 injuries in
Oregon and 9,400 deaths and
12,000 injuries in Washing-
ton. But that’s using a hypo-
thetical Feb. 6 morning earth-
quake with an epicenter 95
miles west of Eugene. Any
number of variables, such
as peak tourist season at the
coast, could push casualties as
high as 25,000.
Umatilla County Emer-
gency Manager Tom Roberts
said if predictions about Cas-
cadia come true, two things
will be essential for Eastern
Oregonians: Don’t panic, and
be prepared.
“The big thing to take away
and remember is that no one
knows what’s going to hap-
pen until it happens,” he said.
“With that in mind we are ask-
ing people to prepare for the
worst and hope for the best.”
Power
On Day 1 of Cascadia, the
most immediate impact East-
ern Oregon residents need
to be prepared for is a loss
of electricity. As the Casca-
dia Rising scenario document
described it, when electrical
infrastructure on the western
side of the state is destroyed,
power will be rerouted to
other segments of the network,
which is likely to overload the
system and trigger protective
relays to shut down.
“The loss of load capacity
from each switch may cause
cascading blackouts extend-
ing much further than the
impacted area,” the document
notes. “Within minutes of the
initial shaking, vast regions
of Washington and Oregon
If a Cascadia subduction zone earthquake hits the Pacific North-
west, individual preparation will be key. Emergency prepared-
ness experts at FEMA and the Red Cross recommend keeping
a portable 72-hour emergency kit ready, then working to build up
at least a 14-day emergency supply of food and water.
If that seems overwhelming, Umatilla County emergency man-
ager Tom Roberts suggested that families focus on one step at a
time. They can pledge to buy an extra case of bottled water next
time it’s on sale, for example, or plan to write out a list of family
members’ contact information this weekend. More information
about emergency preparedness can be found at ready.gov.
Tom Roberts
may experience a complete
blackout.”
Umatilla County’s emer-
gency operations center,
located inside the justice
building in Pendleton, has a
backup generator, as do hospi-
tals and other crucial facilities
in the county.
The problem, Roberts said,
will be keeping those gen-
erators supplied with fuel
if power is out locally for
days or weeks. Oregon has
no refineries of its own, and
gets its fuel from Washington,
which would also be impacted
by the quake. More than 90
percent of Oregon’s liquid
fuel reserves are located along
a six-mile stretch of the Wil-
lamette River in Portland that
is vulnerable to liquefaction
during an earthquake. Long
story short: Natural gas and
fuel for running generators or
vehicles will likely be in very
short supply for weeks and
transporting it will likely be
difficult.
Roberts said the county
could possibly stretch its fuel
supplies farther using diesel
from nearby farms, but there
are not currently any such
agreements in place.
Nick Bejarano, director
of communications for Good
Shepherd Health Care Sys-
tem, said the Hermiston hos-
pital has enough fuel to run its
generators for 96 hours, and
hospitals would be one of the
Basic Preparations
Put together a 72-hour emergency kit using:
1. One gallon of water per person per day for drinking and
hygiene
2. Non-perishable food for three days (include manual can
opener if needed)
3. A battery-operated radio/NOAA weather radio
4. Flashlight
5. Extra batteries for flashlight and radio
6. First aid kit/ needed medications
7. Personal hygiene items (soap, toothbrush, contact solution,
tampons, etc.)
8. Multi-tool and/or pliers to turn off utilities
9. A portable/solar cell phone charger
10. Laminated list of emergency contacts and family emergency
plan
11. Map of the area
12. Copies of insurance, birth certificates and other important
documents
13. Extra cash
14. If needed, supplies for infants or pets
Intermediate preparations
Further items helpful to keep on hand in case of an emergency:
1. Two week supply of nonperishable food
2. Two week supply of water
3. Plain bleach to purify water (16 drops per gallon)
4. Mess kit or paper goods
7. Blankets or sleeping bags
8. Towels
9. Matches in a waterproof container
10. Work gloves and dust mask
11. Plastic sheeting and duct tape
12. Camp stove and extra propane (do not use indoors)
Advanced preparations
1. Become a licensed ham radio operator
2. Become a Red Cross volunteer
3. Take first aid/CPR classes
4. If you’re a health professional, get precredentialed with the
State Emergency Register of Volunteers
5. Seismically safeguard your home, including bolting it to its
foundation and securing your hot water heater to the wall
5. Create a plan with neighbors, church members and/or
co-workers to make sure everyone is taken care of
top priorities for any fuel com-
ing in after those four days.
Communications
Joe Franell, CEO of East-
ern Oregon Telecom and chair
of the governor’s Oregon
Broadband Advisory Council,
said he “doesn’t expect there
will be any internet connec-
tivity” in Oregon and parts of
Washington in the weeks fol-
lowing Cascadia. The Pittock
building in Portland, which
serves as the internet hub for
the region, is not “seismically
stable.” Cell phone towers
will also likely be disrupted,
and since even today’s land-
line systems include internet
components, “now even the
old copper phone lines prob-
ably will not work,” Franell
said.
Communication to the
wider world may be limited to
ham radio.
A short list of licensed ama-
teur ham radio operators are
spread throughout Umatilla
County and Morrow County.
If Cascadia hit, the county
would rely on them to work in
shifts at the emergency oper-
ations center in Pendleton,
sending and receiving mes-
sages from the military as well
as state and federal agencies.
In addition to audio commu-
nications between radio oper-
ators, the system also has the
ability to send emails to reg-
ular email accounts via the
radio even if the internet is
knocked out.
“It gives the decision-mak-
ers who need to know the
information they need ... to
decide where resources will do
the most good,” Roberts said,
calling ham radio “probably
the most resilient” form of
long-distance communication.
Alan Plan, Amateur Radio
Emergency Communication
(ARES/RACES) coordina-
tor in Umatilla County, said if
ham radio operators in places
like Ukiah and Heppner have
access to power they can oper-
ate out of their homes and
report to Pendleton the condi-
tions in their community.
“The beauty of ham radio
is the infrastructure is set up
by the hams themselves, sepa-
rate, and so is able to exist off
the grid,” he said.
If something happened
to the equipment, ARES/
RACES has set up in the
emergency operations cen-
ter in Pendleton, the Oregon
Department of Transportation
has also stored a van in Pend-
leton which could function
as a mobile communications
center.
Supplies
State and county offi-
cials are working diligently
to prepare Eastern Oregon
for the possibility of a Casca-
dia event, but Roberts said the
more that individuals, fami-
lies and businesses prepare,
the less of a drain they will
be on resources more urgently
needed on the west side of the
state.
The state’s Cascadia Sub-
duction Zone Response Plan
states that “significant aid
from state and federal govern-
ments to local governments
may not be available for at
least 72 hours.”
FEMA and the Red Cross
recommend citizens build
72-hour kits complete with
food and water for three days
(see sidebar) to get through
that time, since it’s likely that
grocery stores will not be
open if the power is out.
For individuals with med-
ical conditions, stockpiling
emergency supplies can be
especially important. Kristy
Beachamp, a public health
emergency
preparedness
liaison with Oregon Health
Authority, said people should
do what they can to put aside
extra prescription medica-
tions in case an emergency
shuts down pharmacies.
They can try filling their
prescription a couple of days
early each month and putting
the extra pills aside in a secure
location, she said, or asking
for samples from the doctor,
although it is important to be
aware of expiration dates.
“It can be really tricky to
get a month’s supply,” she
said.
Umatilla County Sher-
iff Terry Rowan said people
can help law enforcement by
not panicking and remember-
ing that help from the out-
side will eventually come,
and that they can start help-
ing each other “at the grass-
roots level.”
“I think the key is pre-
paredness,” he said. “If today
you prepare, you don’t have to
be so afraid of the event that
you stop living your life.”
Stay tuned for the next
installment in the series, Cas-
cadia Day Seven, on Tuesday.
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