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MONDAY • March 8, 2021
FULL PAGE INSIDE
The Japanese tsunami,
10 years ago this week
Waves of the
tsunami hit
residences in
Miyagi
prefecture,
Japan.
As soon as the
alert was
sounded,
residents
moved to
higher ground.
Because the
tsunami was
larger than
expected,
however, some
found
themselves still
affected.
In many places
in the Japanese
islands, waves
were 30 feet or
more high and
struck within an
hour of the
earthquake.
However, in
Miyako – in
Iwate
prefecture – the
water reached
as high as 133
feet.
EARTHQUAKE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Charles Apple | THE
SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Ten years ago, a 9.1-magnitud
e earthquake – and the
generated – struck Japan.
titanic tsunami it
Japan is still struggling
with the aftermath.
The earthquake struck
at 2:46 p.m.
local time on March 11,
2011.
Within moments, the entire
island of
Honshu — the main Japanese
island –
shifted eight feet to the
east. The Earth
shifted as much as four
to 10 inches on
its axis. Enough energy
was released to
power Los Angeles for
an entire year. It
was the fourth largest
earthquake since
modern record-keeping
began in 1900.
and tsunamis but the country
simply
wasn’t ready for something
of this
enormity. The flooding
knocked
equipment at the Fukushima
Daiichi
Nuclear Plant offline. Residents
within
a 6.2-mile radius were
evacuated. The next
day, a series of nuclear
meltdowns began in
three of the plant’s four
reactors. The
resulting emergency ranks
as the
second-largest nuclear
disaster ever.
Recovery from the earthquake
and its
aftermath has been slow.
As of last year,
abour 48,000 evacuees
were still waiting for
new permanent housing.
The Tokyo Ele
15,899
332,395
People
killed
Coronavirus legislation
The $1.9 trillion question: Who gets relief?
Q&A about $1,400
checks, tax credits
and more provisions
in a historic bill
that’s on the verge of
becoming law
Bulletin wire reports
T
he historically large $1.9 tril-
lion COVID-19 economic relief
package is heading to President
Joe Biden’s desk before mid-March,
barring any last-minute drama. It di-
rects $1,400 payouts to millions of
Americans and continues unemploy-
ment checks for millions more as the
country pulls itself out of the economic
morass of a pandemic that has killed
more than 500,000 Americans.
The bill, passed by the Senate and
expected to be approved by the House
this week, includes money for vaccines
and hospitals, to help schools reopen,
expand broadband access and keep ail-
ing industries like airlines and music
venues afloat. No Senate Republican
supported it.
Now the details: What’s in the bill?
Warning signs for the Democratic Congress
The COVID-19 relief bill’s thin party-line Senate approval belies broader challenges
facing President Joe Biden as he tries to navigate intraparty divisions to push through
an agenda on voting rights, climate change, immigration and more. The bill also offered
a glimpse at how a single lawmaker can grind legislating to a standstill. Biden allies,
however, were exultant: “The president proposed a $1.9 trillion plan and the Senate just
passed a $1.9 trillion plan,” Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director,
was quoted in The Washington Post. INSIDE » GOP revives Obama-era tactics, A11
See Relief / A11
A PLACE
TO RACE
Photos by RYAN BRENNECKE • The Bulletin
LEFT: Cash Fred, 10, pulls away from his competitors as he nears the finish line while racing
during an Oregon Indoor BMX event at K1 Speed in Bend on Saturday. BELOW: Competitors
of all ages warm up around the track. For a schedule on upcoming races and information
about Oregon Indoor BMX, visit www.oregonindoorbmx.com.
COVID-19 | Road to normalcy
Teacher vaccinations go untracked amid school reopenings
BY CASEY SMITH
Associated Press/Report for America
The national rush to vaccinate
teachers in hopes of soon reopening
pandemic-shuttered schools is run-
ning into one basic problem: Almost
no one knows how many are getting
TODAY’S
WEATHER
the shots, or refusing to get them.
States and many districts have not
been keeping track of school employee
vaccinations, even as the U.S. priori-
tizes teachers nationwide. Vaccines are
not required for educators to return
to school buildings, but the absence
of data complicates efforts to address
parents’ concerns about health risk
levels and some teachers unions’ calls
for widespread vaccinations as a con-
Cloudy, some rain
High 48, Low 27
Page A10
INDEX
Comics
Dear Abby
Horoscope
dition of reopening schools.
The number of school staff mem-
bers receiving vaccinations — and
refusal rates — are unclear in several
large districts where teachers were
prioritized, including Las Vegas, Chi-
cago and Louisville, Kentucky.
Some state agencies and districts
have said privacy concerns prevent
them from tracking or publishing
teacher vaccination data. Others say
A7-8
A4
A4
Kid Scoop
Local/State
Nation/World
A9
A2
A10-11
Puzzles
Sports
Weather
vaccine administration sites are not
tracking recipients’ occupations and
they are not in position to survey em-
ployees themselves.
In Oregon, where teachers began
receiving vaccines in January, the Or-
egon Health Authority can’t say for
sure how many have been vaccinated
because the agency does not track the
profession of recipients.
16.7%
Percentage of entire U.S. population
that has received at least one
dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. More
than 85 million doses have been
administered as of Friday, according
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
See Teachers / A4
A8
A5-6
A10
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