Tag: Tsunami

Critical Tsunami Info for Oregon Disaster Response Planners

  • tsunami evacuation route sign

CREW board member Yumei Wang produced the Cascadia Tsunami Casualty Estimates Report (2021) for the Oregon coast, now available on the Oregon Health Authority website. The casualty estimates, as well as descriptions of direct health effects of tsunamis on survivors, can be used by coastal hospitals, communities, and emergency planners to help shape realistic planning scenarios for emergency response exercises, such as Cascadia Rising 2022.

Underlying the report’s tsunami casualty estimates is the assumption that everyone in Oregon’s tsunami inundation zones is quick to evacuate on foot using optimal tsunami evacuation routes immediately after the Cascadia earthquake. In spite of this efficient evacuation, a large tsunami causes an estimated 18,667 fatalities and 819 injuries.

Funding for the report was provided by the Health Security, Preparedness and Response (HSPR) Program of the Oregon Health Authority.

Yumei Wang is owner of Sustainable Living Solutions LLC, as well as Senior Advisor on Infrastructure Resilience and Risk in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University.

This Thursday is International ShakeOut Day!

The Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill is nearly upon us. What activities and resources are you promoting to raise awareness and encourage participation in the drill? There are a lot of good ideas out there. For instance, take a look at these examples from the state of Washington:

  • At noon on Oct. 21, 2021, the Washington Emergency Management Division will field earthquake-related questions on the agency’s Facebook page.
  • Because ShakeAlert technology is now active in Washington, the EMDPrepare YouTube Channel now offers an audio recording that narrates a “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” drill starting with a ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning alert message.
  • And Washington plans to run a test of the state’s coastal tsunami sirens to coincide with this year’s ShakeOut earthquake drill.

ShakeOut is a great opportunity to focus attention on earthquake readiness — starting with the core message to join the drill and Drop, Cover, and Hold On this Thursday, October 21, 2021!