May 27, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A
Police, ire crews ‘may not be
able to respond’ after Cascadia
Emergency
preparedness forum to
stress self-suiciency
The ire department will be
in the same situation: “I don’t
think it’s realistic to think
that we would be driving ire
trucks around town trying to
help people,” Ames said.
By Erick Bengel
Self-suficiency
EO Media Group
Immediately after a Cas-
cadia Subduction Zone earth-
quake, emergency responders,
including Seaside’s, will like-
ly be as paralyzed as everyone
else.
“The city may not be able
to respond at all,” Astoria City
Councilor Drew Herzig said.
Residents and visitors un-
lucky enough to be on the
North Coast when the “big
one” hits should plan to take
care of themselves, he said.
“We’re not trying to terrify
people, but we’re trying to be
honest with them about what
they can expect from city ser-
vices,” Herzig said. “And the
reality of our situation with a
Cascadia event is that there’s
going to be very little service
left.”
Later this month, a panel
of four experts — Althea Riz-
zo, geologic hazards program
manager at Oregon Emer-
gency Management; Tyree
Wilde, warning coordination
meteorologist at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration; Patrick Corcor-
an, coastal natural hazards
specialist with Oregon State
University; and Neal Bond,
protection unity forester at the
Oregon Department of Forest-
ry — will speak at the Liberty
Theater on Astoria and Clat-
sop County’s state of disaster
readiness.
The Community Emer-
gency Preparedness Forum
on May 31 will cover a range
of natural disasters facing
the North Coast, from winter
storms to wildland ires to a
catastrophic earthquake and
tsunami.
A short question-and-an-
swer session will follow each
JOSHUA BESSEX/EO MEDIA GROUP
Members of the Coast Guard including Skip Dronen, center,
and Dave Bartram, center back, jog to Fort Clatsop Historical
Park as part of a tsunami drill in January. In the event of a large
earthquake and tsunami, Guardsmen near the airport would
have 20 minutes to make it to the higher ground at the park.
presentation, and a longer di-
alogue will take place at the
end. Tables with resources
and emergency preparedness
gear will be set up in the lob-
by.
The goal is partly to make
citizens aware of the city and
county’s plans and resources
to confront disasters. But the
forum will also drive home an
unpleasant truth: In the irst
few days post-Cascadia, sur-
vivors may be on their own.
“Even though it may be
tough to take in, it’s some-
thing we need to start facing
up to. Knowledge is power,
particularly in something like
this,” Herzig said. “It’s going
to happen, we just don’t know
when. So the more we can
prepare for it, the better.”
Devastating to
infrastructure
Astoria does not face the
same tsunami threat as Sea-
side and Cannon Beach be-
cause the city is several miles
upriver from the coast, al-
though it still faces signiicant
waterfront inundation from
rising sea levels, Astoria Fire
Chief Ted Ames said.
The primary threat is the
earthquake itself.
“If we were to face a
seismic event, like … the
9-point-something-magnitude
earthquake off the coast —
that nearshore event — we
know that it will be devastat-
ing to infrastructure,” Astoria
Police Chief Brad Johnston
said.
Bridges will fail. Buildings
will fall. Large swaths of earth
will liquefy and produce land-
slides. City roads and streets
— crushed, collapsed or cov-
ered in debris — will be im-
passable.
Even with the best of in-
tentions and most profession-
al of forces, Astoria police
and ire departments will have
severely diminished — per-
haps nonexistent — rescue
capabilities after a megaquake
and tsunami.
“If we have that scale of
an event, you will not see irst
responders rolling up in their
patrol cars. It’s not going to
be possible,” Johnston said.
“When you think about As-
toria and the geography and
the nature of the roadways,
there’s a good chance it’s go-
ing to be very dificult to get
places (with) things other than
horses, mountain bikes, dirt
bikes, ATVs and those kinds
of things.”
“I can’t sit here as ire chief
and tell you exactly what’s go-
ing to happen, ‘cause I don’t
have a clue,” Ames said. “I
just don’t think that it’s a real
great outlook when we think
about a major event.
“I’m probably scaring the
hell out of people, but that’s
the way it is,” he added.
Corcoran said that, as soon
as high-magnitude earth-
quakes occur, power lines fall
and arc, and gas and water
lines break.
“So now you’ve got gas
ires starting all over the place
and no water to put them
out,” he said. “People’s cur-
rent sense of, ‘Well, when
my house is on ire, the entire
ire department comes to help
me,’ is wrong.”
Johnston advises citizens
to prepare themselves, men-
tally and materially, such that
they could survive without
irst responders and even help
their neighbors.
“It’s really important for
people to have that ability to
care for themselves in those
initial hours because it’s going
to be tough,” he said, adding
that emergency management
specialists now tell people to
plan for a period of self-sufi-
ciency lasting at least 14 days.
“It will be some time before
government is able to re-es-
tablish that infrastructure, and
the people are going to have
to be prepared for that.”
“Professionals don’t like
to say — especially cops and
iremen — that they’re not
going to be there for you,”
Corcoran observed. “So,
when they’re telling us that
they’re not going to be there
for us, I think you really need
to pay attention to that.”
City recognizes
contributions of
‘amazing’ response
downtown Seaside.
In the aftermath, the Ore-
gon Fallen Badge Foundation
partnered with the Seaside
Police Department to pro-
vide backup and logistical
By R.J. Marx
support for the memorial ser-
Seaside Signal
vice, attended by more than
a thousand visitors, many of
Seaside Police Chief Dave them law enforcement and
Ham requested a $5,000 dona- irst responders from around
tion from the city to the Ore- the country and Canada. The
gon Fallen Badge Foundation foundation served as point of
for their response in the after- contact for volunteers, honor
math of the February
guard and city ofi-
shooting death of Sgt.
cials.
Jason Goodding. The
“By the time we
City Council respond-
got to the funeral, they
ed by doubling it.
literally were running
“This is some-
the entire town,” City
thing they do from the
Manager Mark Win-
heart,” City Manag-
DAVE HAM
stanley said. “They
er Mark Winstanley
came in and they
said. “We think it would be handled anything and every-
appropriate at this point to thing that needed to be done in
make some kind of gesture Seaside so all of the people in
back. There’s no way to put a Seaside were able to go ahead
price on that gesture.”
and participate in the memo-
Ham’s request began with rial.”
a May letter to Winstanley in
The donation will be
which he extolled the founda- drawn as a contingency item
tion’s volunteers for their ex- from the city’s general fund,
pertise in planning and coor- Winstanley said.
dinating the memorial service
“They did so much for us,”
for Goodding at the Seaside Councilor Tita Montero said.
Civic and Convention Center “I think $5,000 is a drop in the
in February.
bucket.”
Council President Don
“The resources that the
Oregon Fallen Badge Foun- Johnson suggested a $10,000
dation provided to Seaside on gift, a igure unanimously en-
such short notice, and to the dorsed by Mayor Don Larson
extent that they did, can only and councilors.
Funds could be used for
be described by me as amaz-
the foundation’s operating
ing,” the police chief wrote.
Ham suggested a dona- costs, lodging or travel, Ham
tion of $5,000 or more to the said after the meeting, as well
foundation, an amount “not as support for spouses and
enough to properly express families of fallen oficers.
Goodding is survived by
our gratitude for the support
they have given to our com- his wife, Amy, and two daugh-
munity, but any donation ters.
“They’re just a great orga-
amount will send the message
that they are appreciated and nization,” Ham said. “They
we thank them for their ser- are dedicated. They’re deserv-
ing of funds from the city and
vice.”
Goodding, 39, died after anyone else who wants to do-
being shot serving a warrant nate. For them (City Council)
on convicted felon Phillip to make that donation is ex-
Max Ferry on Broadway in ceptional and very pleasing. ”
Seaside gives $10,000
to Fallen Badge
Foundation
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