COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • DECEMBER 26, 2018 •
from A1
Quake
Earthquake was shoved into
the national spot light by
the Pulitzer Prize winning
article published in the New
Yorker and centered around
the predictions of seismolo-
gist Chris Goldfi nger who is
based at Oregon State Uni-
versity.
According to the most re-
cent reports concerning the
damage expected from the
quake, coastal towns will be
subject to tsunami warnings
and more inland commu-
nities will face varying de-
grees of devastation from
Seattle, Washington down
to Southern Oregon and
Northern California.
Since the release of the
New Yorker article, state of-
fi cials have warned residents
to get prepared and has is-
sued funds to schools across
Oregon to upgrade their
infrastructure. Earthquake
drills have become com-
monplace and emergency
kit how-tos have popped up
more and more frequently.
But according to Goldfi n-
ger, there is only so much
residents can do when the
earth starts shaking.
In South Lane, several
bridges connecting Cottage
Grove to larger cities — in-
cluding Springfi eld and Eu-
gene — may not be standing,
possibly leaving children
isolated from parents and
left to hunker down at local
schools.
South Lane School Dis-
trict has been updating
its emergency plans from
school shooters to natural
disasters. And in the case
of the Cascadia Quake, dis-
trict buildings may become
emergency centers for com-
munity members, not just
students — once the build-
ings are deemed structurally
safe.
“I think the high school
is a little diff erent based on
the size of the building, they
probably have a little longer
with food but most build-
ings probably have enough
for a couple of weeks,” said
assistant
superintendent
Kyle Tucker. “And again,
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“We couldn’t use it for per-
sonal calls but it insures that
our personnel can get calls
and we can get our resources
into place,” Wooten said at
the time of the plan, which
would cost callers 75 cents
per minute.
However, that is not a
guarantee that school dis-
that’s assuming we’re talking
about student population
because bottom line, this is
going to turn into a commu-
nity issue.”
Th e city of Cottage Grove
has an emergency plan as
well but due to the age of
most of the buildings in the
city that could hold a large
quantity of people, there
are very few that could ad-
“ You can have a plan, an understanding
and the concept, but every situation
acts diff erent and what you have to be
able to do is adapt..."
—Kyle Tucker,
SLSD Assistant Superintendent
equately serve as evacuation
shelters in the case of a 9.0
earthquake. Both the city
and the district are set to
work together in the case of
a natural disaster.
However, all of the logis-
tics have not been ironed
out due to the unpredictable
nature of the unprecedent-
ed earthquake. It is possible
that both cell phones and
landlines fall out of service,
making communication dif-
fi cult.
In 2017, South Lane
County Fire and Rescue
Chief Jon Wooten told Th e
Sentinel that the department
was working to enroll in
two federal programs meant
to streamline emergency
services in the event of an
emergency.
Th e Government Emer-
gency Telecommunications
Services would allow the
local fi re district to utilize
their cell phones in the case
of an emergency without
trict offi cials would be able
to utilize its phone system or
cell phones. Without know-
ing if their communication
system would be aff ected,
South Lane School District’s
plan, allows it to adapt.
Each school has a gener-
ator that could keep elec-
tricity fl owing but they run
on gasoline. Th e Cascadia
Quake, according to Gold-
fi nger, may severely damage
fuel stations.
“Th e generator would give
us enough time until hope-
fully you could fi nd a way
to get fuel but if you really
think of that in the grand
scheme of things, obviously,
fuel trucks are not going to
be going up and down the
freeway, not going to hap-
pen,” Tucker said, citing re-
ports that Interstate-5 will
most likely be out of service.
“Th e reality is, it doesn’t
matter because no one is go-
ing to have fuel — not in Eu-
gene, Portland, Medford, no
you have to be able to do is
adapt and use whatever re-
sources are available to you
in every form,” said, Tucker,
who added: “I’ll be honest; if
that’s syphoning gas out of
busses that are not moving
or can’t be used — I mean,
whatever it would take. Be-
cause again, the school isn’t
just going to be for kids, it’s
going to be for the commu-
nity.”
Th e city of Cottage Grove
approved a plan in 2016 for
emergencies within the city.
It begins with an alert of in-
cident from the city’s emer-
gency program manager
followed by an assessment
of the incident between
the city manager, incident
commander and emergency
manager.
City Hall is currently des-
ignated as the incident com-
mand center but that facility
was built in the 1970s and
may sustain serious damage
in the event of the 9.0 earth-
quake. Th e alternate loca-
tion is designated as the city
shops.
Tucker said, in updat-
ing the district’s emergen-
cy plan, he looked at other
buildings in the city and
found it diffi cult to identify
another building that could
act as a community shelter.
South Lane School Dis-
trict may be housing chil-
dren for weeks at a time
with estimates of residents
being able to make their
way back to Cottage Grove
varying widely based on
the number of bridges
down and the damage to
infrastructure.
But the district’s plan
does account for reconcil-
ing children with parents
and, as Tucker noted, at
some point, the Red Cross
and other federal assis-
tance would make its way
to the area — alleviating
some of the school district
and city’s responsibility.
“We are as prepared as we
can be,” Tucker said, noting
the district’s update of the
emergency plan and unpre-
dictable nature of natural
disasters.
Families should maintain
an earthquake safety kit and
have a plan in place in the
event of a natural disaster.
For more information on
how to be prepared, vis-
it
oregon.gov/DOGAMI/
pages/emergencykit.aspx or
additional site ore-gon.gov/
oha/ph/preparedness/pre-
pare/pages/prepareforearth-
quake.aspx
Th e Sentinel, in coopera-
tion with the school district,
opted not to publish some of
the specifi c logistical details
in the district’s emergen-
cy plan in order to assure
the safety of students in the
event of an emergency.
Community Unity
ge
tta ve
Co ro
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“You can have a plan,
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