Friday, February 15, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Tsunami-resiliency kits make a splash in Manzanita
to avoid hypothermia with
ample water and basic nutri-
tion for a period of three
days.
Emergency
volunteer
corps offi cials hope this is
only the beginning of a trend
that eventually stretches
along the entire length of
Oregon’s coastline. EVCNB
has go bag classes where
they sell, at cost, items the
participants would need for
their personal go bags.
“The go bag is the most
critical item to have, espe-
cially in the beginning when
a natural disaster occurs,”
said EVCNB Go Bag Coor-
dinator Linda Cook. “A go
bag is an insurance policy.
It’s better to be prepared than
scared.”
With go bags in each
of their 10 guest rooms
and offi ces the Zagatas,
who caught on early to the
corps’ emergency prepared-
ness message, are glad their
guests can rest a little easier.
“Natural disasters don’t
wait until its convenient or
daylight happens,” Janice
Zagata said. “There’s always
that element of surprise,
when you least expect and
are caught off guard.”
“I hope this is the begin-
ning of a trend because it’s
the right thing to do,” her
husband added.
To learn more about the
emergency volunteer corps
and emergency prepared-
ness, visit www.evcnb.org.
For more information about
Tonquin Trading and its ser-
vices visit www.tonquintrad-
ing.com.
By DAVE FISHER
For Seaside Signal
In what could be a fi rst
on the Oregon coast, a lodg-
ing facility in Manzanita has
equipped its guest rooms with
emergency go bags should
the unthinkable happen,
namely a devastating tsunami
resulting from an earthquake
along the Cascadia Subduc-
tion Zone 70 miles offshore.
Because of its close prox-
imity to the beach, the Ocean
Inn, located at the western
end of Laneda Avenue in
Manzanita, has been a favor-
ite with tourists and out-of-
towners for a quarter century.
The 10-room inn affords its
guests with wonderful views
of the Pacifi c and is mere
footsteps away from Manza-
nita’s sandy beaches. On the
fl ip side, it has the dubious
distinction of being one of
the fi rst structures along the
beach to be virtually wiped
out by a wall of water when
“the big one” happens. Well
aware of that reality, own-
ers Larry and Janice Zagata
began thinking of their social
responsibility as hotel own-
ers to their guests and their
safety.
“After attending an emer-
gency preparedness meet-
ing a few years ago, I really
began thinking seriously
about this,” Janice Zagata
said. “There’s always that
element of surprise, natural
disasters can happen at any
time.”
The preparedness meet-
ing referenced by Zagata
Dave Fisher/For Cannon Beach Gazette
Dave Fisher/For Cannon Beach Gazette
Ocean Inn three-day go bags include emergency supplies for
two people.
Linda Cook, emergency volunteer; Janice and Larry Zagata,
Ocean Inn owners; and Jason Johnson, owner of Tonquin
Trading, review a video about Ocean Inn’s emergency go bags.
was one of many sponsored
by the Emergency Volun-
teer Corps of Nehalem Bay
the past 11 years. The emer-
gency volunteer corps came
into being shortly after
the December 2007 storm
that struck the North Coast
accompanied by hurricane
force winds that toppled trees
and power poles. Many areas
were left without electric-
ity for a week or more sug-
gesting that a emergency
response organization made
up of volunteers to lend a
hand during natural disas-
ters was a good idea. Today,
with upwards of 400 volun-
teers, the corps is the primary
reason Manzanita, and its
nearby neighbors Nehalem
and Wheeler, is considered
the best prepared community
in the event of a major earth-
quake and tsunami.
It was on a visit to Ton-
quin Trading in Seaside the
Zagatas took the next step in
offering its guests peace of
mind in addition to a great
view and easy beach access.
Open since 2016, the out-
door apparel store on Broad-
way specializes in high-qual-
ity backpacking, hiking and
emergency
preparedness
gear.
“I had popped into Jason’s
store initially to check out
emergency go bags for our
personal use,” said Larry
Zagata. “But we felt it had
gotten to the point that we
needed to do something
for our guests as well. So,
I reached out to Jason and
he helped develop an emer-
gency kit to fi t our needs.”
Over the course of the next
couple of months Tonquin
Trading owner Jason John-
son, a one-time North Dakota
oil fi elds safety trainer, came
up with a tsunami resiliency
kit to fi t the needs of Ocean
Inn and its guests. Based
on double occupancy the
two-person
tsunami-resil-
iency kit, or go bag as it is
commonly known, includes,
at a cost of $70 each, emer-
gency blankets, ponchos
hand warmers, water pack-
ets, 400-calorie food bars,
12-hour light stick, and basic
fi rst-aid-kit. In addition, the
Zagatas developed an emer-
A lifeline for those in need at Homeless Connect
gency information sheet with
a map of downtown Manza-
nita showing the most direct
evacuation route to the near-
est emergency assembly
area, in this case Underhill
Plaza on Manzanita Avenue.
In the event of a Casca-
dia Subduction Zone earth-
quake, one would have just
15 minutes following the end
of the initial shaking to reach
higher ground before a tsu-
nami would inundate lower
elevations.
“The go kit is designed to
get you where you need to
go for additional emergency
supplies and instruction,”
said Johnson. The supplies
included address maintain-
ing one’s core temperature
BUSINESS
Directory
Local groups
off er services,
essentials
FLOORING
By EVE MARX
For Seaside Signal
The Cannon Beach Com-
munity Church had a big day
at Project Homeless Con-
nect donating water-repel-
lent blankets, boots, rain
gear, women’s knit hats and
tote bags to some of the 175
homeless or transient people
who passed through the Sea-
side Civic and Convention
Center by 1 p.m.
Nancy Giasson said the
church distributed 50 pairs
of men’s underwear; 50 pairs
of men’s socks; 40 pairs of
women’s underwear and 40
pairs of women’s socks, as
well as 40 pairs of women’s
gloves.
Other necessities were
distributed at the Jan. 29
event. Alan Evans, Founder
and Director of Helping
Hands, said he dispersed 140
personal care bags contain-
ing toilet paper and toiletries.
“There’s been good
camaraderie here today,”
Evans said. “All the partici-
pating agencies are working
well together to serve the
population.” He said every
year the population demo-
graphic and the need is a
little different, in large part
because policies regarding
assistance to the homeless
and transient population are
always changing.
Project Homeless Con-
nect has become an annual
event at the Seaside Con-
vention Center. Organized
by Clatsop Community
Action and sponsored by
Oregon Lions Sight & Hear-
ing Foundation; Clatsop
Community Action; Coastal
Family Health Center;
Columbia Memorial Hospi-
tal and Providence Seaside
Hospital, the fi ve-hour event
offered the local homeless
and transient population
referrals and information on
legal and medical and men-
tal health services, transpor-
tation, food stamps, veteran
services, employment, hous-
ing, and food stamp applica-
tions to where they might get
a hot meal, a haircut, or do
laundry.
Laundry Love’s mission
is aiding families struggling
with the cost of doing laun-
dry. Laundry Love pays for
two loads of laundry and
drying per family unit. Join
them or donate quarters or a
snack on Feb. 9 or March 9
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Eve Marx/For Seaside Signal
Sheila Yates of Laundry Love at Project Homeless Connect.
Eve Marx/For Seaside Signal
Shelley Forsythe and Shawna Neumeister were on hand to
represent The Harbor.
Eve Marx/For Seaside Signal
Eve Marx/For Seaside Signal
Justin Johnson, Transportation
Coordinator for Providence
Seaside Hospital said he spent
a large portion of his day at
Project Homeless Connect di-
recting people to the right per-
son or agency to help them.
Alan Evans of Helping Hands
Re-entry and Outreach helps
provide daily necessities.
at the laundromat located at
1223 S. Roosevelt Drive in
Seaside. This event is spon-
sored by At The Water’s
Gate, a ministry of the Four-
square Gospel located in
Seaside.
Seamus A. McVey is the
founder of A.P.E.S., which
stands for Anonymous Prac-
tical Everyday Support.
“A.P.E.S. is a 12 step pro-
gram that deals with root
causes of issues that affect
our lives,” McVey said.
He uses a version of the 12
Steps of Alcoholics Anony-
mous that replaces the word
“God” with “Higher Power,”
as religious beliefs or lack
of them can be a barrier to
come to a self help program.
“Another way we break
the barrier is encourag-
ing laughter,” McVey said.
“Healing and growth is hard
enough on its own. If we can
laugh, we can enjoy the pro-
cess a little bit more.” Call or
text 503-440-3983 for more
information.
Shawna Neumeister and
Shelley Forsythe repre-
sented The Harbor, offering
free and confi dential sup-
port to survivors of domestic
violence, sexual assault, and
stalking. The Harbor is not
affi liated with law enforce-
ment and does not make
mandatory reports about
client’s experiences, nor
require clients to produce
proof of citizenship or ID.
Located at 801 Com-
mercial Ave. in Astoria,
The Harbor recently began
offering support group ser-
vices through referral at Sea-
side Providence Hospital.
A specifi c group for Latina
survivors of recent or past
domestic and sexual vio-
lence meets every Thurs-
day for ten weeks at the hos-
pital starting Feb. 7. For
more information regard-
ing the Latin@ group, call
or text 503-338-9131. The
24-hour, seven-day hotline
is 503-325-5735.
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