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Do Tsunami Evacuation Buildings Make Sense For Oregon Coast?

BY KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL

Portland, OR  September 24, 2009 12:25 p.m.

Policy makers and engineers are meeting in Portland and Cannon Beach this week to discuss the need for tsunami evacuation buildings. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.


A tsunami evacuation building is a building that’s been put on stilts - so that when a tsunami hits, people can stay above the water.

They’ve been built in Japan, but there are none along the U.S. coastline.

Althea Turner of Oregon Emergency Management says FEMA is realizing that the traditional message of “go inland and uphill,” isn’t enough in towns like Cannon Beach and Seaside.

Althea Turner: “We have 10 maybe 15 minutes in the case of a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami and that’s just not long enough for individuals to get from the water front to high ground.

Cannon Beach is considering turning its city hall into a tsunami evacuation building, but deep foundations and concrete pillars make it much more expensive.

© 2009 OPB

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Comments

September 24, 2009
10:11 p.m.
Though the chances of anyone dying in a tsunami in the Oregon coast are probably pretty small compared to many other dangers we face, it is certain that at some point in the future, whether in our lifetime or later, a whole lot of people are going to die a terrifying, terrible death when the Cascadia subduction zone does let go and the gigantic tsunamis reign down. I congratulate local leaders for trying to pioneer a practical, safe place to save as many people as we can for when this event does happen.

— Posted by dfisher


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