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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Tuesday, April 10, 2018 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Slow and steady can win the tsunami race Both desirable and dangerous, coastlines are a front-row seat for the splendors, rewards and hazards of the living, crashing ocean. A new analysis of tsunami risks published recently shouldn’t cause sleepless nights, but should change future calculations about how to live and vacation along the Pacific’s interface with the land. “New Washington state tsunami maps show ‘shocking’ flooding,” was the headline for the Northwest News Network’s summary of a state agency’s latest thoughts on how counties at the mouth of the Columbia River will be impacted someday by a near-shore tsunami. Those impacts will surely be felt farther inland, as people in Eastern Oregon will deal with the aftermath by supporting survivors and becoming a base for emergency response. Based on a better understanding of how such tsunamis behave — partly thanks to lessons from Japan’s deadly 2011 disaster — experts have for several years been ramping up estimates of wave heights and land slippage after a major Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. So although “shocking” may be an exaggeration, the report certainly is sobering. As an initial matter, it’s important to note something the Northwest News Network’s report did not: That the situation outlined in the new modeling is one that’s only expected to happen about every 2,500 years. In such a worst-case scenario, from 20 to 60 feet of seawater will flood low-lying places along the Northwest coast. This flooding would result from a 9.0 quake and around 90 feet of pent-up slippage between two of earth’s massive crustal plates, which intersect roughly 150 miles west of the mouth of the Columbia River. Less dire — but still serious — coastal flooding happens somewhat more often than 2,500 years. Most research about past subduction zone quakes and tsunamis has found an average interval of 500 to 530 years in this area, but more often in the vicinity of Coos Bay and Northern California. The most recent Oregon tsunami in January 1700 was close to a worst-case scenario, according to a 2003 study. The triggering earthquake is believed to have AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi Police search for the remains of those who went missing in the March 11, 2011 tsu- nami on the coastline in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan. been 9.0 in strength — with a possible range between 8.7 and 9.2. It caused 62 feet in fault slippage and involved 684 miles of the Cascadia fault zone. All this science is still relatively new. There are many uncertainties and variables. It is tempting to speculate that if the 1700 event was about as bad as it can get, perhaps coast-dwellers will be relatively lucky with the next one. And if estimated average intervals are close to accurate, we might still be a couple hundred years from the next event, of whatever size. Considering predicted sea-level rise, coastal communities may have gradually relocated to higher ground before the next tsunami. We can’t rely on optimistic thinking, however. The coastal communities of Washington and Oregon clearly should all be planning to move schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure out of harm’s way. Considering the life expectancy of such physical assets, a reasonable target date to complete such relocations might be 2040 or so. New housing subdivisions should only be allowed at safe elevations. Future assets like downtown parking structures in beach towns should be built to survive powerful quakes and serve as vertical evacuation options for residents and visitors. Well-engineered pedestrian pathways should be constructed to provide rapid evacuation options away from the shoreline. Food, medical supplies, tents and other vital supplies should be pre-staged at safe elevations. All of this takes money and political muscle. But slow and deliberate steps can achieve much. We should be profoundly grateful that scientists learned of this danger and are giving us actionable information to mitigate the risks. Studies like the one released last month give us a head start in winning the race to safety. OTHER VIEWS Choosing animals over people B YOUR VIEWS Umatilla County elections department a helpful place Did you know? The Umatilla County Office of Elections is located in the basement of the county courthouse and the folks there will be glad to help you complete a new or updated registration form. You can also register to vote (new or changed registration) online by searching http://www.co.umatilla.or.us/elections/ index.html and gets lots of useful information there, such as crucial dates, drop-off box locations, your rights, and more. In the next few weeks you may find knowledgeable, helpful folks at schools, restaurants and outside stores who will help you complete a form and deliver it to the elections office. If you are registered but did not receive a ballot in the most recent election, it may be because you changed addresses and did not notify the elections office. John Gilson Pendleton Second Amendment calls for regulation The heated aftermath of every mass shooting consistently reveals how American culture has become polarized by radical ideologies without a rational middle ground. Progressives will ardently push for new gun laws, which in effect incenses conservatives. I merely propose we revere the Second Amendment as it was carefully crafted by our forefathers and strictly regulate all firearms as it is explicated stated in its opening clause. Thusly, to not regulate Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. firearms only cheapens and dilutes the validity of our great constitution. Conservatives like to compare guns to cars, which require registration, licenses and insurance. Yet we continue to create new laws on driving safety as our society evolves with its range of technologies. It is now illegal to drive while texting or drive while on the phone because technology has since advanced. Perhaps if we were to apply the same restrictions to guns that we do to cars, gun owners would exercise prudence with their firearms rather than treating them like toys for the mere joy or “fun” of shooting anything that moves. Conservatives also like to propose arming teachers or posting armed guards at public schools, which is not cost effective coming from a party that defunds public education, widely disinclined to pay taxes or contribute to the welfare of the community. In my mind, more bullets from more guns means more crossfire, which means more chaos, which means more casualties. Why would conservatives opt for a police state armed to the teeth instead of simply banning military grade weaponry? If they earnestly believe that every citizen has the “right to bear arms,” am I allowed to attach missile launchers on the roof of my SUV with flame throwers blasting from its boot? If we take the course of a police state, all citizens will eventually be disarmed as the end game and the feared government will be the only ones with guns. But if we pass new gun laws that require written tests with a reading exam, perhaps we can actually incentivize the uneducated to do their homework. And that would be a win-win without disarming anyone. Chad Elliot DeFalco Heppner AYANGA, Central African also nurture compassion for fellow Republic — The cutest humans. Empathy isn’t a zero-sum primates on earth may be game. Inguka and Inganda, gorilla toddler Overseas conservation twins who playfully tumble over organizations have also gotten each other here in the vast Dzanga much better at giving local people Sangha rain forest, one of the best a stake in the survival of animals. places to see gorillas, antelopes and The World Wildlife Fund, which elephants play. Nicholas helps manage the Dzanga Sangha The only risk: They are so Kristof Protected Area, supports a health heedless and unafraid of people that clinic and is starting an education Comment they may tumble almost into your initiative. The refuge hires 240 local lap — and then their 375-pound people, from rangers to trackers, silverback dad may get upset. His name who locate the gorillas and get them is Makumba and he expresses displeasure habituated to people. with a full-speed charge, hurtling toward “These efforts are good for us,” said you until he’s only inches away. Dieudonné Ngombo, one of the trackers. This area where Central African “We work and get a salary, and then our Republic, Cameroon and the Republic of kids live better and we sleep well.” Congo come together is one of the wildest Martial Yvon Amolet of the Center and most remote parts of the world, and the for Human Rights of Bayanga, which is three countries have established bordering supported by the Dzanga Sangha Protected national parks. I also visited a forest glade Area, says that the BaAka Pygmies filled with 160 elephants and a large herd of appreciate the conservation efforts “because bongo antelopes, plus a few African buffalo. for BaAka, the end of the forest is the end It was like a scene from a Disney movie, of their culture and identity.” and I felt myself melting. Luis Arranz, a Spanish wildlife biologist Yet when I turn sentimental at the who runs World Wildlife Fund efforts majesty of wildlife, I sometimes feel in Central African Republic, adds that uneasy. I wonder: Does honoring animal the conservation programs depend on rights come at the expense of human rights? the support of local people to watch out One study found that research subjects for poachers. There are still one or two were more upset by stories of a dog beaten elephants killed a month here, but the toll by a baseball bat than of an adult similarly would be far higher without watchful eyes beaten. Other researchers found that if in the community. forced to choose, 40 percent of people Last year, 200 foreign ecotourists came would save their pet dog over a foreign here, up from zero in 2015. While other tourist. parts of Central African Republic are When the shooting of Cecil the Lion wracked by conflict, Dzanga Sangha is far in Zimbabwe attracted far more outraged from the fighting. Arranz hopes to get 700 signatures on a petition than the shooting visitors this year, but the potential is far of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland greater. police officer, writer Roxane Gay tweeted, Simply put, one of the most important “I’m personally going to start wearing a resources some poor countries have is lion costume when I leave my house so if I wildlife. Northern white rhinos are on the get shot, people will care.” verge of extinction because of poaching to Years ago, I visited a rain forest camp feed Chinese demand for rhino horn, with where a couple dozen young Americans and the last male in the world dying recently Europeans were volunteering in difficult in Kenya. When the animals are gone, conditions to assist gorillas as part of a economic prospects for humans diminish conservation program. It was impressively as well. altruistic — but these idealists were So compassion for elephants or rhinos oblivious to Pygmy villagers nearby dying or gorillas is not soggy sentimentality, but of malaria for want of $5 mosquito bed a practical recognition of shared interests among two-legged and four-legged animals. nets. Go ahead and embrace animal causes So are we betraying our own species without a shred of guilt. when we write checks to help gorillas (or “What’s good for the animals is also puppies or wild horses)? Is it wrongheaded good for the Pygmies,” Dieudonné Kembé, to fight for elephants and rhinos (or farm a Pygmy working in Dzanga Sangha, told animals at home) while 5 million children me. Without conservation efforts, he said, still die each year before the age of 5? “the animals would be gone, and we might It’s a legitimate question that I’ve be gone, too.” wondered about over the years. But I’ve ■ come to believe that on the contrary, Nicholas Kristof grew up on a sheep and conserving rhinos or gorillas — or speaking cherry farm in Yamhill. Kristof, a columnist up for tortured farm animals at home — is for The New York Times since 2001, writes good for humans, too. At the broadest level, it’s a mistake to pit op-ed columns that appear twice a week. He won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in sympathy for animals against sympathy for 1990 and 2006. humans. Compassion for other species can The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.