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JJurtlatth ©bgeruer 43
Read
‘City fl/Roses’
*ssues ° f the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
Volume XXXXI, Number IO
Wednesday • March 7, 2OI2
Established in I970
, a
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Emergency officials
work to get you ready
M indy C ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
by
In an effort to alleviate both the fear
and stigma surrounding earthquakes and
tsunamis, emergency management of­
ficials are on a mission to inform the
public about how to be prepared after a
natural disaster.
The fear of natural disasters is often
perpetuated by a lack of information,
according to Dr. Althea Rizzo, geologi­
cal hazards specialist with the Oregon
Management Office.
To help prepare residents to be prac­
tically ready to face the aftermath of a
major earthquake or tsunami, the state
office and various agency experts are
stepping up to provide free prepared­
ness workshops to inform the public.
Rizzo recounts the story of an eighth
grade girl who saved hundreds during
the 2004 tsunami in Thailand because
of her lesson in geography.
Tilly Smith, an eighth grade student
on holiday with her family from the
United Kingdom, had just taken a geog­
raphy class where she learned about
earthquakes and tsunamis, before she
saw the tide rush out in Phuket, Thai­
land seven-years ago.
“Because she had just studied this in
school, she was able to evacuate the
beach and save about 250 people’s
lives,” said Rizzo. “You don’t have to
live on the coast to make the informa­
tion useful.”
Throughout the past several years,
Oregon has suffered considerable dam­
age from winter storms and last year’s
tsunami off the coast of Japan.
“Scientific evidence indicates that
Oregon is at risk for much larger and
potentially more damaging tsunami cre­
ated by an earthquake associated with
the Cascade Subduction zone,” said
Rizzo.
Once individuals become informed,
they can prepare, she said, which helps
families take the action they need to
Althea Rizzo
photo by M indy C ooper /T hf . P ortland O bserver
Water is sold in large
containers (above) at a
local supermarket.
Being prepared for
natural disasters
means having a safe
supply o f drinking water
that can last three
weeks, according to
emergency manage­
ment officials.
An emergency kit (right)
has first aid, a flash­
light, and other sup­
plies to be ready in
case o f a natural
disaster.
ensure they will be safe after a tsunami
or earthquake.
In the past two weeks, Oregon has
experienced 10 to 12 earthquakes, said
Rizzo. “This is about average,” she
said. “Oregon is very seismically ac­
tive.”
Just last month. Rizzo said an earth­
quake with a magnitude of 6.0 occurred
merely 15 miles off of the coast. “That
was pretty big, but luckily, it was far
enough off shore that it was felt by only
a few,” she said.
Rizzo said, however, it was the same
size of earthquake, known as the Spring
Break earthquake, which went under­
neath Scott Mills in 1993 and caused the
Capital building to crumble in Salem.
“A misconception is that most build­
ings are built to a seismic standard, and
that they won’t fall down,” she said.
“But it might not be usable afterwards,
and a lot of our building stock will need
to be demolished unless people take
action beforehand.”
Although we are the only state that
has programs and grants towards
schools and critical facilities for seis­
mic and retro-fitting, Rizzo said there is
still an issue of funding to make sure
continued
on page 2