A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021
CRAB HIT THE DOCKS
IN BRIEF
Authorities investigate death
of inmate at county jail
Authorities are investigating the death of an inmate at
the Clatsop County Jail.
Jay Christopher Jamieson, 38, died Friday at about
2:10 p.m. at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria. An
autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner on Sat-
urday found Jamieson died of natural causes.
Jamieson was booked at the jail on Thursday night on
charges of unlawful delivery of heroin, unlawful delivery
of a controlled substance to a minor, child neglect in the
fi rst degree and endangering the welfare of a minor after a
search warrant was served on his residence in Warrenton.
The death is being investigated by the Clatsop County
Major Crime Team.
— The Astorian
State Route 401 landslide
repair could take months
NASELLE, Wash. — Repairing the landslide damage
between Naselle and Megler is likely to keep State Route
401 closed for an extended period of time, a Washington
State Department of Transportation spokeswoman said.
The state route serves as the most direct link between
Astoria and Naselle. The closure means having to take
U.S. Highway 101 around the edge of Willapa Bay,
roughly doubling the commuting time.
The landslide, one of several in the area caused by
heavy rainfall, began taking a bite out of the route above
the old Knappton Mill site on Feb. 22.
Pam Shipp, a resident who has documented the slide
with her photographs, was among the fi rst to encoun-
ter it during her evening commute. “I bottomed out and
almost lost control of my car, heading over the embank-
ment. Thought I’d run over a body! Went back and found
the highway separating and sliding. Called the cops,”
Shipp said on her Facebook page.
Some sections of roadway moved 3 feet in less than
24 hours. The Dismal Nitch Rest Area just east of the
Astoria Bridge is also closed until further notice.
“The damage is signifi cant and will require extensive
repairs that will likely take months,” the Department of
Transportation said.
— Chinook Observer
Two seats open on Fair Board
Clatsop County is seeking applicants for two vacant
seats on the county Fair Board.
The board meets on the fi rst Tuesday of each month
and is responsible for the management of the Clatsop
County Fair & Expo and organizing the annual county fair.
The positions are for two unexpired terms ending in
December 2023. To apply, visit the county’s website or
the county manager’s offi ce at 800 Exchange St., Suite
410, in Astoria.
The county Board of Commissioners will make the
appointments.
County seeking applications
for Arts Council vacancy
Applications are being accepted for a vacancy on the
Arts Council of Clatsop County.
The council’s mission is to support, promote and
advocate for the arts and culture.
The vacancy is for a term ending December 2022. To
apply, visit the county’s website or the county manager’s
offi ce at 800 Exchange St., Suite 410, in Astoria.
The county Board of Commissioners will make the
appointment.
— The Astorian
ON THE RECORD
DUII
of Ridge Road in Warren-
On
the
Record
• Wilmer
Rudolph
Bot- ton for DUII.
toms, 54, was arrested
Sunday near the Peter Ire-
dale beach access at Fort
Stevens State Park for
driving under the infl u-
ence of intoxicants.
• Christopher Steven
Garrison, 63, of Seaside,
was arrested Saturday off
• Richard Joseph
Hodges, 57, of Silver
Lake, Washington, was
arrested Friday near Glen-
wood Village in Warren-
ton for DUII, interfer-
ing with a peace offi cer
and attempting to elude a
police offi cer.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Seaside Community Center Commission, 10 a.m., Bob
Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue A.
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, noon, work
session, (electronic meeting).
Port of Astoria Commission, 4 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Seaside Library Board of Directors, 4:30 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
WEDNESDAY
Warrenton Urban Renewal Advisory Committee, 3:30 p.m.,
Warrenton City Hall, 225. S. Main Ave.
Warrenton-Hammond School District Board, 6 p.m., work
session, (electronic meeting).
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., (electronic meeting).
THURSDAY
Astoria Design Review Commission, 5:30 p.m., City Hall,
1095 Duane St.
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
Published Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday by EO Media Group,
949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103 Telephone 503-325-3211,
800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
The Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR
97103-0210
DailyAstorian.com
Circulation phone number:
800-781-3214
Periodicals postage paid at Astoria, OR
ADVERTISING OWNERSHIP
All advertising copy and illustrations
prepared by The Astorian become the
property of The Astorian and may not
be reproduced for any use without
explicit prior approval.
COPYRIGHT ©
Entire contents © Copyright,
2021 by The Astorian.
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF
CIRCULATIONS, INC.
Printed on
recycled paper
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Commercial fi shermen offl oad their catch in Nahcotta.
Earthquake alerts coming to
smartphones with ShakeAlert app
By TOM BANSE
Northwest News Network
Smartphone users who
opted in to a test of the West
Coast earthquake early warn-
ing system got an early taste
on Thursday of what is to
come. Mobile phones from
Seattle to Olympia in Wash-
ington state blared with an
alarm for imaginary incom-
ing shaking. The earthquake
warning system — already
operational in California —
will launch for the general
public in Oregon on March
11 and statewide in Washing-
ton in May.
The earthquake early
warning system is known as
ShakeAlert. It doesn’t predict
earthquakes. It’s designed to
give a heads up about shak-
ing coming from an earth-
quake that is underway. It
works because electronic sig-
nals travel much faster than
rumbling spreads through the
earth’s surface.
After many years in devel-
opment, the U.S. Geologi-
cal Survey and its state part-
ners say they are ready to let
ShakeAlert issue automated
mass public warnings in the
Pacifi c Northwest. Thurs-
day’s targeted public test in
western Washington show-
cased the potential and excite-
ment for the system as well
as the fact that there are still
some glitches to work out.
“That’s it. Got it!” said
Harold Tobin, director of
Pacifi c Northwest Seismic
Network, proudly holding
up his smartphone to show
viewers who joined a Shake-
Alert test watch party that the
alert came through seconds
after transmission.
“Lovely!” enthused event
moderator Mariah Jenkins of
the U.S. Geological Survey,
before other watch party par-
ticipants piped up with their
confi rmations.
The ShakeAlert test used
the same warning tones and
distribution system as Amber
Alerts, so the conversation
was interspersed with the
sounds of blaring alarms as
the test message propagated
across the cellular networks
of King, Pierce and Thurston
counties.
But at least a third of the
participants in Tobin’s break-
out room of the Zoom watch
party didn’t get the test alarm
or got it too late to be useful.
“A minute later and I still
haven’t got my notifi cation,”
said a Seattle area man who
opted into the test.
“I haven’t got mine
either,” a woman who joined
the event replied.
What to do
If the region experiences
a moderate to strong quake
ShakeAlert
Oregon and Washington state are on the cusp of launching an
earthquake alerting system for the public.
in the near future, a suc-
cessful alert will say basi-
cally, “Earthquake detected!
Drop, cover, hold on. Protect
yourself.”
“This just gives you a few
seconds of warning so that
you can get to your safe area
much quicker,” said Althea
Rizzo, who works on earth-
quake preparedness at the
Oregon Offi ce of Emergency
Management.
“What we recommend
people do is drop, cover and
hold on until the shaking
stops. Then, if you are in the
tsunami inundation zone on
the coast, to start evacuating,”
Rizzo said.
“If you’re driving in a car,
the appropriate action would
THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SAID
THE SEISMIC SENSOR NETWORK IS
NOW 70% COMPLETE FOR THE WEST
COAST, WITH 1,132 OUT OF THE
PLANNED 1,675 SEISMIC STATIONS
INSTALLED AS OF LAST MONTH.
be to pull over and stop the
car, if possible. If you’re in a
building, stay in a building,”
said Tobin. “Most injuries
from earthquakes in the U.S.
are not from the catastrophic
collapse of a building but
from falling objects — lights,
ceiling tiles, etc.”
The Wireless Emergency
Alert system demonstrated
on Thursday works auto-
matically. You don’t need to
sign up for anything. But if
you want something fancier
or that does more, you have
some options now — with
more on the way.
Newer smartphones run-
ning on the Android operat-
ing system now come with
built-in quake detection and
alerting software created by
Google. Google’s on-screen
“Drop, Cover and Hold”
early warning message paral-
lels the Wireless Emergency
Alert version.
Subscription rates
Eff ective January 12, 2021
MAIL
EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$10.75
13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00
26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00
52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00
DIGITAL
EZpay (per month) .................................................................................................................$8.25
Then there’s the private
company in Southern Cali-
fornia behind a free down-
loadable app called Quake-
AlertUSA. Its version offers
more info on screen, includ-
ing a countdown timer for
when shaking should arrive
and the predicted magnitude
of the incoming earthquake.
“There’s a potential to
get many alerts,” said Rob-
ert de Groot, who coordi-
nates ShakeAlert techni-
cal partnerships for the U.S.
Geological Survey. “If you
downloaded apps and have
an Android-powered phone
and you have enabled WEA
on your phone, then you may
get multiple alerts on your
device.”
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
The
reception
gaps
exposed in Thursday’s public
test underscore why his agen-
cy’s philosophy is that dupli-
cation is OK so that at least
one alert gets through when
time is of the essence.
“We are very interested in
people getting alerts through
as many pathways as possi-
ble,” de Groot said. “I mean,
every delivery pathway has
its limitations.”
Other startups and pri-
vate companies are develop-
ing devices and services that
piggyback on ShakeAlert to
automatically perform a shut-
down or safety action in the
few seconds to tens of sec-
onds available. Rizzo said
this arena has the potential for
many powerful applications.
“Like raise the bay doors
of fi re departments or return
elevators to the ground fl oor,”
Rizzo said. “Or to inform
doctors to pull the scalpels
out of the patient. Or drop
arms across bridges to make
sure people can’t get onto
bridges, but can get off of
bridges before the shaking
starts.”
Two engineering fi rms
based in the Northwest have
partnered with the U.S. Geo-
logical Survey to license
ShakeAlert to harden munic-
ipal water systems. Both-
ell, Washington-based RH2
designs seismic shutoff valves
so water reservoirs don’t
drain out through broken
mains after an earthquake.
Woodinville,
Washing-
ton-based Varius is marketing
alert monitoring software that
water and sewer system oper-
ators can use to automatically
stop pumps, close valves and
prevent spills.
Earthquake strength
for warning?
Commercial users can
typically customize the
threshold for triggering an
earthquake alert response.
Rizzo explained the mass
public warning function of
ShakeAlert has a combina-
tion threshold. The detected
earthquake needs to be mag-
nitude 5 or greater and the
people to be notifi ed should
expect noticeable rocking, at
a minimum.
Rizzo said the March 11
launch date for wireless mass
alerts of incoming earth-
quakes in Oregon was cho-
sen deliberately. The date
coincides with the 10th anni-
versary of the magnitude 9.1
Great Tohoku earthquake
and tsunami, which killed
about 20,000 people in Japan.
Many more lives were proba-
bly saved by the sophisticated
warning systems pioneered in
Japan beforehand.
The time leading up to
Washington state’s launch,
which is about two months
later than Oregon’s, will
allow for further fi ne tun-
ing. In an interview posted
by the University of Wash-
ington, where Tobin teaches,
he said the delayed launch
will also give more time to
“prepare the public by edu-
cating people on what the
ShakeAlert Earthquake Early
Warning system is, how to
receive alerts and how to pro-
tect themselves when they
receive an alert.”
California rolled out
ShakeAlert for the public
fi rst in late 2019. California
has the most frequent earth-
quakes of the three partici-
pating states and the largest
earthquake hazard.
The unifi ed West Coast
system took many years to
build. The federal govern-
ment in partnership with mul-
tiple universities and state
agencies had to install hun-
dreds upon hundreds of seis-
mic sensors over known
earthquake faults statewide
in Washington, Oregon and
California. Funding for this
came in dribs and drabs from
Congress, with occasional
extra help from the states and
foundations.
The U.S. Geological Sur-
vey said the seismic sensor
network is now 70% com-
plete for the West Coast, with
1,132 out of the planned 1,675
seismic stations installed as
of last month.