Massive Rehearsal
Planned for Northwest Mega-Quake, Tsunami
·
By TERRENCE PETTY,
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND, Ore. — Jun 3, 2016, 1:05 PM ET
Imagine a
devastating earthquake and tsunami have cut off Pacific Northwest coastal
communities.
Phone and internet service have collapsed.
Ham radio operators
living on the stricken coast fire up their radios, contact emergency managers
and report on the magnitude of the disaster so that no time is wasted in saving
lives.
This is the kind of scenario that will be rehearsed during the second
week of June in a massive earthquake and tsunami readiness drill that has been
developed by the U.S. government, the military, and state and local emergency
managers over the past few years to test their readiness for what — when it
strikes — will likely be the nation's worst natural calamity.
The June 7-10 exercise is called Cascadia Rising. It is named after the
Cascadia Subduction Zone — a 600-mile-long fault just off the coast that runs
from Northern California to British Columbia.
"This is the largest exercise ever for a Cascadia break," said
Lt. Col. Clayton Braun of the Washington State National Guard. Braun has been a
key planner of the doomsday drill, which is being overseen by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
Federal officials say about 20,000 people will be involved in the
disaster drill, representing various federal agencies, the U.S. military, state
and local emergency response managers across the Pacific Northwest, Native
American tribes and emergency management officials in British Columbia.
One main goal of the exercise is to test how well they will work together
to minimize loss of life and damages when a mega-quake rips along the Cascadia
Subduction Zone and unleashes a killer tsunami.
Awareness of the seismic threat looming just off the Pacific Northwest
dates back to the 1980s, when researchers concluded that coastal lands long ago
had been inundated by a tsunami. Research also indicated that a tsunami that
was documented in Japan in January 1700 originated from the Cascadia Subduction
Zone, also known as the CSZ.
Research suggests that the CSZ on average produces magnitude 9.0 quakes
every 500 years, but big quakes have been separated by as few as 200 years and
as many as 1,000.
So it is impossible to predict when the next monster quake
occurs. However, tectonic stresses have been accumulating in the CSZ for more
than 300 years and seismologists say it could rupture at any time.
More than 8 million people live in the area that is vulnerable to the
Cascadia Subduction Zone. It contains the most heavily populated areas of the
Pacific Northwest, including Seattle and Portland, as well as Interstate 5, one
of the nation's busiest roads.
Coastal towns are especially at risk. Studies have forecast that while
1,100 people could die from a 9.0 magnitude quake, 13,500 could perish from the
tsunami that would slam into the coast within 15 to 30 minutes after the
shaking begins.
A scenario document written in preparation for Cascadia Rising exercise
states "the scale of fatalities across the coast may overwhelm the
resources of local governments."
Whole towns along the coast may
disappear. Hospitals could either collapse or be too severely damaged to handle
casualties.
All across the region between the Pacific and the Cascade Range, bridges
and roads could be destroyed, fuel supplies and communications disrupted, and
buildings and crucial infrastructure may sink into soil that's been liquefied
by the intense shaking.
The region has taken steps over the last few years to better prepare for
the looming calamity. Schools are being moved out of tsunami inundation zones.
Money is being allocated for seismic retrofits of crucial structures. Tsunami
evacuation routes to high ground have been identified.
Cascadia Rising is an important part of the planning that has picked up
pace over the past few years.
Some of the exercise will put boots on the ground. For example,
Washington State National Guardsmen will conduct a landing on Vashon Island to
rehearse delivery of supplies with landing craft. About 2,300 National Guard
soldiers are among the 6,000 or so exercise participants in Washington state.
Another major drill rehearses how to get the Port of Tacoma back into
operation after it has been devastated by a quake, using a U.S. Army Reserve
pier that consists of a logistics support vessel, a barge derrick crane and a
large tug.
In Oregon, about 580 National Guard soldiers are among some 1,400
Cascadia Rising participants from across the state. Specialty teams will
practice their roles for the disaster that will come. This includes pulling
people out of a pile of rubble that simulates a collapsed building and triaging
them for medical care.
Much of Cascadia Rising will entail civilian agencies and the military
coordinating in what will be extremely difficult conditions. Participants in
the exercise will contact emergency management offices with reports of specific
needs during the simulated disaster. It will be up to agencies to work together
to come up with solutions.
Amateur radio operators are also participating in Cascadia Rising. If
internet and phone service are severed, ham operators have the ability to act
as the eyes, ears and messengers for emergency officials scrambling to figure
out what they need to do to save lives and prevent more damage.
The region's ham radio operators are even able to establish email
service for emergency management officials, using amateur radio frequencies to
bridge the gaps.
"We can leapfrog over the outage, to where there is still internet
activity," said Bruce Bjerke, Oregon section coordinator for Amateur Radio
Emergency Services, a national non-governmental organization.
Regional and local emergency managers are welcoming the opportunity to
rehearse a Cascadia calamity.
"The Cascadia is relatively new to us," said Tiffany Brown,
emergency manager for Clatsop County, the northernmost county on the Oregon
coast. "We're behind in terms of getting ready for it."
Related Posts:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/massive-rehearsal-planned-northwest-mega-quake-tsunami-39591365
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